To swaddle or not to swaddle…what is the answer!

Swaddling your baby is the simplest thing you can do to help your baby soothe and sleep easier. Many parents think their babies don’t like to be swaddled because they may fuss a bit while being  swaddled or push on their swaddle thats tightly wrapped BUT once baby is secure and safely wrapped you will almost see him melt into a calmer quieter state. For  9 months your baby has been living in a tight, warm, dark, loud environment with constant movement. Of course, this would be the natural thing to do once he enters into this big, bright, cold world. Recreating his environment in our homes is taking advantage of the window of opportunity (The W.O.O.) to teach sleep skills with no crying. The problem with swaddling is most parents don’t know how to correctly swaddle OR they don’t know when to stop swaddling. 
 
First, the old school blanket swaddle is being done away with since it causes more danger then it helps. Tired parents don’t’ have the patience to properly and safely swaddle their babies so I now encourage Swaddlers for babies instead. The ones that I recommend are the Woombie Swaddler, the Ergo Cocoon or the Halo Sleep Swaddler. All of these swaddlers not only provide a fast secure and easy swaddle that will keep baby wrapped for a longer time but they also offer convertible capabilities so that you can let your baby have one arm or both arms out when the need arises. These  swaddlers provide a “no brainer” swaddle for tired parents.

 Second, it’s important to understand when to stop swaddling. Some parents think that if their baby is busting out of the  swaddle or growing out of the swaddle that it’s time to forgo it. But that’s
definitely not the case. The best time to start the process of unswaddling your  baby is when you see them begin to roll over. Once they start having the skill of rolling, swaddling with arms in then becomes a danger as they won’t be able to use their arms to help lift their head should they roll onto their stomach. There should be approx. 4 inches between your babys feet and the bottom of the swaddler. If your baby does not have this leg room then it’s time to buy a larger swaddler BUT not time to stop swaddling as most parents quickly find out that their baby will struggle even more with sleep once they are unswaddled.
 
Once your baby is rolling over, you can then graduate them to a sleep sack which is a SAFE blanket, will help prevent legs from getting stuck in the crib slats and also will prevent your child from
lifting his leg high enough to climb out of the crib once he is  standing.
 
For info on the swaddling  and sleep sack products visit the links
below: 
Halo Sleep Swaddles and Sacks     www.halosleep.com

Woombie   www.woombie.com

Ergo Cocoon   www.ergopouch.com

---