Grandma's two cents worth: Swaddling

The need to continue swaddling your baby after 3 months is a whole new thing to those of us who had babies in the 80s or previous. When this problem came up with Zoe I searched and searched my memory to try and remember how I solved this problem with my four babies and then I realized that I just didn’t really have it. In the 80s we swaddled our newborns in exactly the same way as today, but we slept them on their sides. That was the “rule” then. We were told that a baby should not sleep on their back as they could choke easier, and sleeping on the side meant that any spit up ran out easily. As baby grew and was able to wriggle out of the swaddle, the arms were still not that free in the side position. Try it yourself, it’s not that easy to fling both your arms about when you are lying on your side.

Today, a baby lying on its back has so much more freedom and can fling their arms right up over their head and wake themselves up. I’ve even found myself doing it! It was also not unusual once they were at this age to sleep them on their tummies, and I did that with Sarah. Here is a picture of her on her tummy at 4 months. She was a thumb sucker so the head was always turned to the side to find her thumb, and arms were pretty much unable to go anywhere.

I’m certainly not advocating the tummy position today, as I know that mothers are told they must sleep baby on their backs now, but if sleeping your baby on its side can be made safe I think it would save a lot of headaches regarding this swaddling problem.