All About Swaddling

All about Swaddling

Table of Contents

  • What is Swaddling? 
  • What's wrong with Swaddling?
  • What products are available on market nowadays?
  • How to choose?
  • should I swaddle my baby?
  • Safety guidelines when swaddling

What is swaddling?

Fundamentally, swaddling aims to recreate the womb-like environment, where it's snug and baby feels secure & safe.

Practically, it helps to reduce the impact of Moro Reflex in startling babies awake. Moro, or Startle Reflex is natural to every baby's development. The motion is baby's arms swinging outward, then jerking back. This often time startle them to wake. By reducing the effect of this "startle", baby are less disturbed to wake, or more likely to fall back sleep by themselves.

<Learn more>

watch a 4min video by Dr. Nabil Ebraheim, explaining Moro Reflex

read our blog:  what causes reflex? ALWAYS due to external stimulie 👉 驚嚇反射 為何發生？一定來自於「外力」-- 而每個寶寶敏感度不同，「被啟動」反射。

learn about the different kinds of reflex an infant will experience growing up

Historically, 

  • many diverse cultures did it, over at least thousands of years. even Jesus was swaddled
  • the practice of swaddling then, was "using some cloth" wrap around tightly. we'd guess that ease-of-handling for caretaker could be the primary consideration, over "healthy baby physical development"
  • it's interesting to ponder: why, when there wasn't internet to update each other of best practice, when accessible "swaddling cloth" wasn't a standardized mass-produced, commonly-available-on-store-shelves kind of product, that a diversity of cultures practiced some form of swaddling.

Starting 17th century, we see published records of science-minded people giving attention to baby development, as it relates to "swaddling". Critiques were abundant -- a human in confinement is often not a positive perception. But this attention, spawning debates & studies, effectively accumulated knowledge in how swaddling, when bound improperly and/or at the wrong places, can be harmful for babies.

Today, as you're likely aware:

    • there still are mixed opinions on the practice of swaddling, and 
    • you have many many products to choose from.

    In our opinion:

  • swaddling is helpful to baby development when properly done.  Yet, not all babies need this help.
  • the "swaddles" available today are not the same as those of yore.
          (1) they are designed from the knowledge of known "improperness;" and there are institutions such as AAP & CPSIA monitoring to keep products as-safe-as-possible.
          (2) the integration of "temporary fasteners" really changed the game, in making them specifically-safe & easy-to-secure.

As such, the choice is yours. And we think the best choice you can make is to observe your baby and find what'd be helpful to them (and easy for you).

What is wrong with Swaddling?

The perception of human in confinement isn't positive in general. For the majority of swaddling's long history, it's also likely the case that the ease it provided for caretakers, rather than the aspect of healthy baby development, was the main consideration.

Times have changed -- helping baby develop properly & healthily is all that we care about now. In present day, the top concerns over swaddling are:
- baby hip development
- baby overheating
- cloth becoming loose, becoming a suffocation hazard.

It is worth pointing out:
- these are generally objections to the traditional sense of swaddling (by one big piece of cloth)
- by those to aspire to provide the best for babies, many innovative designs are now out there . with problems ID'ed, solutions /// new now-available products are designed to overcome problems identified. /// with problems identified, innovators who aspired to provide best for babies, have created lots of products.

Essentially, swaddling is just a method, with related "tools" (designed swaddles) to help. you choose what suits your baby best, which could be none at all.

What Products are available for swaddling? 

一目了然、簡單易懂

再加 各品牌簡介 +  包巾素描 （形狀、黏扣具位置）

Halo SleepSack™ was introduced in 1994 by (engineer) Bill Schmid, who lost his daughter to SIDS. It is an arms-out pouch design, with zippers. aka wearable sleeping bag. No more loose blankets.

Aden & Anais muslin swaddling blankets was introduced in 2006 by ___, who couldn't find in US the muslin blankets that were commonplace in Australia. It is a piece of cloth without fastener, which required traditional swaddling skills. No more overheating.

SwaddleMe™ was introduced by Summer Infant, a garment factory which aimed to bring "easy & snug" to swaddling. It is a pouch-with-wings design, with velcro on wings that allows for varying size-range. The design respects that babies are fast-growing。

SwaddleUP™ (Love to Dream) was dreamt up by Hana-Lia Krawchuk, Australian, who gave attention to observing how her son prefers to sleep -- "arms up" for Elijah. It is a uniquely-shaped pouch-design with zippers. Safe & easy

The Ollie ...

How to choose the right swaddle?

格物致知。
- by fastener type
- by arms positioning 
- by fabric TOG
- by spotting preferences (ultrasound pic, etc.)

Should I swaddle my baby?

Every baby is unique. Everyone has different preferences. We think it's best to observe, and to respect their preferences.

If your baby sleeps fine without the need for help in snug confinement and startle reflex restraint, then you already have one less thing to worry about.

If you'd give swaddling a try, observe your baby first, to make the best swaddle-tool selectionyour baby's ultrasound positioning

Safety Notes on swaddling

safe sleep guideline: (roll over; loose blanket no weighted Tiny Bean; 

+ downloadable, mobile-viewable checklist