New advice: swaddling with the arms OUT?? What's the point?

[Sanne Panne]

Had baby 2 last Monday (great quick home birth as hoped!). The midwife was just here and I mentioned that I swaddle her at night and for her lunchtime nap. She advised me to not swaddle the arms because recent research has shown that the Moro reflex and the general movement of the arms help remind the baby to breathe should she get into too much of a deep sleep. She didn't mention the term deep sleep, I don't remember how she put it but the bottom line was that sleeping babies can get into a state where they don't breathe well and arm movement and the startling reflex will get them back "to the surface".

It makes SOME sense to me but isn't the whole point of swaddling to have the arms snugly attached to the body and keep the baby from waking up due to the very Moro reflex that the midwife says helps them breathe?

I'm glad she told me and I wish she never told me at the same time. She said a full swaddle is good to soothe babies who have a crying fit, but not for sleeping. Will look up the research but irrespective of what the numbers say the logic behind her reasoning has me a bit worried about swaddling now... (I don't freak out over every piece of research but am just not too sure what to think about this one...)

What do you all think?

[Cora]

We swaddled alot with arms loosely swaddled....my feeling was that the body swaddling still gave a tight security around the body while the baby still had hands to suck on and learn to comfort himself...I also found a swaddled baby easier to lift and position and put back in the cot in the middle of the night

[charlottep]

i had my second baby 10 wks ago and the brierley midwives told me not to do a full swaddle too. it was news to me and i can't see any point in using a half swaddle so moved straight to a sleeping bag. i hate that bloody moro reflex and wish they hadn't told me not to swaddle but i have felt uneasy about it since knowing.

[ClareC]

My baby is 6 months and I was not told this .... Must be very new advice!! Does seem to defeat the object of swaddling!! I put my daughter straight into a Grobag, def recommend them!! Bump to 3 were doing 1 tog one's on buy one get one half price.

[duchessofdulwich]

my little one is 6 months she is in a grow bag which is great. however swaddling has been used for hundreds of years in newborns???

[born&brED]

I swaddled my son, who is now 7 months, for at least 3 months, but then it was winter! I thought the whole point was to create that snug, in-the-womb feel and stop the moro-reflex waking them up?! There are definitely things you have to be careful with when swaddling - right material, correctly done, etc, but what you've been told is completely new to me too! Maybe if you're really worried, bring her hands to her chin and keep it fairly loose?

Congratulations on your new arrival - great to hear the birth went well! :)

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

I don't like seeing babies tightly swaddled, I feel so sorry for them forced into one position.

I used to very very lightly swaddle my son with his cellular blanket so he could get him arms free but he never did like being wrapped, hated the grobags, and kicks off his blankets and sheets, he likes being free.

My midwife came to my house and stripped my son down to his bodysuit and said to keep him like that as babies cannot control their temperature and like to be comfortable with room to move so not to wrap him up and layer him too much, I gave a smug smile to my mum as she loved to swaddle my son loosely whereas it used to bug me and I ended up removing his blanket. I do know some babies love it, and some don't. There are swaddle bags that offer lots of room to move but offers the comfort of being in the womb.

[Ruth_Baldock]

No advice, I never swaddled because Seb hated it...what I actually wanted to say was congratulations on your new arrival and well done on your homebirth!

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

Congrats on baby!! x

[Sanne Panne]

Thanks for the feedback and the congrats! I don't really like seeing a baby swaddled either but it did seem to give our first daughter longer stretches of sleep (and almost more importantly: she would fall asleep more easily and not mind as much being transferred from breast/lap to her bed) and the same seems to hold for our newborn. We stopped swaddling our first at 6 weeks, it just feels a bit odd to me to "restrain" a baby (totally my own hangup) but I can imagine it makes them feel safe during the very early days.

[nikki73]

My midwife kept insisting I should swaddle despite my daughter screaming the place down whenever i tried. That was 8 months ago... At the time I remember reading something about risks associated to swaddling. I think the suggestion in the article was to leave one arm out. Maybe worth a try?

[Sanne Panne]

I've been alternating a plain sleepsuit (and letting her sleep on her side with an improvised sleep positioner) and a loose swaddle (and letting her sleep on her back obviously) over the past couple of nights and didn't get substantially longer stretches with the swaddle. It does seem to help her feel more comfortable being put in bed while still half awake, although that's already getting better without the swaddle too! Guess I'll be using a sleepsuit whenever she's tired enough and a loose swaddle if she's really restless. I also borrowed an Angelcare monitor which has a movement sensor under the mattress (the ultimate freaked out parent device, never used it with first daughter) to feel more comfortable letting her sleep in these "controversial" ways.