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You're Doing It Wrong

Posted by Adrienne Martini

The soothing powers of turning your baby into a non-edible pig-in-a-blanket has got to be one of the best discoveries in all of the annals of human history. It's up there with the wheel and fire and Doritos, in my opinion, and has saved many a baby from being abandoned on a neighbor's doorstep because it won't stop crying. Swaddling rocks. 

How hard can it be to wrap a baby in a blanket? It seems easy enough: find blanket, add baby, wrap. The biggest issue seems like it should be making sure the baby's head isn't covered, too.

The parenting experts would like you to know that -- like everything else you've ever done as a parent -- you're probably doing it wrong.

Turns out that overly aggressive swaddles, which include those that use an extra strap to bind the swaddled baby in order to make them more portable, may lead to hip dysplasia. While hip dysplasia is easy to correct, it's also easy to avoid causing it with a good swaddle. 

Pediatricians suggest taking a few minutes to learn the proper way to wrap your bundle of joy. And whatever you do, use the mild salsa rather than the extra caliente on your baby burrito. 


Comments

 

chyna823 said:

My oldest *hated* being swaddled. From her first day of life, she loathed it. As soon as she was wrapped up, she would scream and flail her little fists about until her arms were free, and then she would relax.

But what did I hear from the nurses at the hospital? "You're doing it wrong." Just what a new mom needs to hear. They could not be convinced that she just hated being swaddled.

(My youngest on the other hand, loved being swaddled so tightly that it elevated her body temperature and made the nurses think she was running a low fever.)

January 15, 2008 8:42 PM
 

bookmama said:

I was lame and bought the swaddleme - and loved that damn thing so much! She only liked it for about 6 weeks - but it was the first six weeks, and every second of sleepy bliss counted. Then she went the way of chyna's daughter (above), and would only relax when she could move her arms around. And then she started flipping over.

January 15, 2008 11:59 PM

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