Should I swaddle my baby? Dr. Komarovsky on the need for swaddling

To swaddle or not to swaddle - this question inevitably arises in every woman who will soon become a mother. And often completely opposite recommendations are heard from different sides. Grandmothers are in favor of tight swaddling, some friends say that they swaddled the baby only at night, others say ...

Why is there so much controversy around swaddling?

The idea of ​​swaddling a baby is as old as the world. Since ancient times, mothers have wrapped their children in a piece of cloth that served as both clothing and a diaper. The main and absolutely disarming argument in favor of the method was its practicality: diapers are inexpensive, protect the baby from the cold and are easy to wash.

The age-old way of life was shaken after the invention of diapers. With their widespread use, swaddling has lost its main advantage - the daily washing of a set of diapers.

Historical background Disposable diapers only appeared in US stores in the 1950s. It took them another couple of decades to conquer the world, and only in the 1990s, with the arrival of Western companies on the Russian market, did they become popular in our country. The reason for the heated debate around swaddling babies is that, by historical standards, this public discussion began just yesterday.

Today, the world of young parents is divided into two camps. Supporters of the swaddling system make new arguments in favor of preserving traditions, opponents consider this method obsolete. So is it necessary to swaddle a newborn baby? Who is right - conservatives or innovators? Let's look at the arguments on both sides.

Hand puppet copy

This technique is the most traditional. The baby is wrapped in a diaper like in a cocoon, completely immobilizing his arms and legs. Sometimes, with tight swaddling, the child is wrapped up with his head, i.e. a tightly fitting “hood” is also formed from the fabric, and only the baby’s face remains open.

Supporters of the method argue that this is a “natural” swaddling, as if simulating the cramped conditions in which the baby was in the last weeks before the birth. It is said that rigid fixation of arms and legs, especially at night, is useful for newborns who

However, the risks to the health of the child with tight swaddling are significant. A tightly wrapped child sweats and overheats. He has poor circulation and lack of motor activity, which slows down muscle development.

Tightly swaddling a newborn has the following pros and cons:

To finish with the topic of tight swaddling of babies, let's analyze two more arguments of its supporters. We did not include them in the table, because these are not pluses, but common misconceptions.

Myth: Tight swaddling helps with colic. Fact: Swaddling a newborn baby can help with colic, but it's far from certain that it will be effective for your baby.

Colic is a very strange phenomenon: it is crying attacks in babies, the cause of which doctors have not yet been able to find out. However, most experts tend to believe that these attacks are associated with painful sensations in the process of maturation of the gastrointestinal tract.

Swaddling a newborn is not a guaranteed colic relief technique. To calm the baby, experts offer a number of methods, and parents are encouraged to try them in turn until one does not help, or the colic does not go away on its own.

Myth: Baby's legs will be crooked without a tight swaddle. In fact: on the contrary, tight swaddling greatly contributes to the development of diseases of the musculoskeletal system.

If the previous myth simply hides part of the truth, this one is a harmful and dangerous delusion one hundred percent.

Many children in our country suffer from rickets, a bone formation disorder. According to the Union of Pediatricians of Russia, this disease is detected in more than half of the children of the first year of life. A key cause of rickets is a lack of vitamin D. There are additional factors that contribute to its development, among them - an unnatural load on the bones and low muscle activity. Exactly what swaddling your feet leads to!

Another common musculoskeletal disorder in infants is hip dysplasia, or congenital hip dislocation. The "wisdom" walking among the people recommends that for the treatment of this condition, begin hard swaddling immediately after childbirth. However, the opposite is true: the fixed, closed position of the baby's legs only exacerbates dysplasia! For successful treatment of dislocations, it is necessary that the child's legs are in a natural, divorced state.

We called this method traditional? Perhaps a more correct word for it is archaic. The harm of tight swaddling has been scientifically proven, and the benefits are very doubtful.

Are there other ways to swaddle a newborn?

Free swaddling baby
The technique leaves the baby some room for movement. The baby's legs do not straighten when winding, and the handles try not to fix tightly. As a result, something like a sleeping bag is formed from the diaper, inside which the baby can move. Open swaddling methods also include the method in which the baby's arms remain outside, and their movements are not limited in any way - this method is called "swaddling without handles."

If you are unlikely to find supporters of tight swaddling of a newborn among pediatricians, then free swaddling is considered acceptable.

In addition to tight, there is free and wide - more progressive techniques. Let's take a look at these methods and weigh the pros and cons.

Free swaddling baby
This technique can be called a medical procedure. It is recommended for hip dysplasia and consists in fixing the baby's legs in a divorced state, for which special panties, a pillow or several diapers are used. Wide swaddling can be practiced even without a doctor's prescription. As the practice of African countries, in which mothers wrap newborns with divorced legs to their backs, as well as the Asian region, where babies are traditionally carried on their side, this technique is quite safe.

What if proper baby swaddling is no swaddling?

Mothers began to refuse swaddling in favor of bodysuits, sliders and slips relatively recently. However, this approach is quite common, and even in some maternity hospitals, swaddling is no longer practiced.

What is the result - is it necessary to swaddle a newborn baby or not?

We cannot say for sure. Many mothers refuse to swaddle, and they are supported by specialists around the world. However, with the free swaddling of children, the arguments for and against are not limited to medical arguments alone. Among them are both economic (no need to buy clothes) and psychological (sometimes parents are afraid not to cope with a nimble baby and harm him). As for the wide technique, it is often practiced by sling moms because many methods of carrying a baby in a sling naturally involve a leg-spread position.

Is it necessary to swaddle a newborn baby at night or throughout the day? Each young family must decide for themselves this issue on their own. The only thing we, along with all medical science, insist is not to use the tight method. Do not listen to those who campaign for this method, even if they are your close people!

Ekaterina Rakitina

Dr. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Klinikum, Germany

Reading time: 6 minutes

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If you ask our great-grandmothers whether it is necessary to swaddle newborn babies tightly, they will answer in the affirmative without hesitation, and then they will explain for a long time that a child in a diaper is much calmer, he sleeps longer, does not wake himself up with his hands, and it’s easier for mom deal with him.

However, in Ukraine, for several decades, newborns have not been swaddled, as in most countries of the world, and children dressed in tiny pants and shirts (and even in tailcoats or cool tracksuits) from the first hours of life are deprived of all restrictions, including diapers. . How does this affect their development and health? This was told by a neonatologist of the highest category, head of the neonatal department of the Zhytomyr Regional Perinatal Center Natalia Madzigon.

Swaddling is a violation of the rights of the child

If we talk about the advantages of swaddling, then these can only be the bright memories of our great-grandmothers about the birth of their children. Under the Union, it was established that newborns in the maternity hospital stay separately from their mothers, they are fed clearly every three hours and tightly swaddled so that the medical staff can handle the children comfortably and safely. Today, such a rigid system and regime of planned development of a child, starting from the first days of life, are perceived as a negative legacy of the past. In the grand scheme of things, this is a violation of human rights.

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Since the mid-1990s, in most perinatal centers of the country, newborns have been with their mothers, except for those sick children who must constantly be under the supervision of doctors. But even these children do not swaddle, and mothers spend quite a lot of time around them. Freedom from diapers is necessary for the normal development of the child!

Natural posture of a newborn - bent arms and legs

Scientists have proven that for a newborn, the natural physiological posture is bent arms and legs spread out to the sides. So it is convenient for children, and this position allows them to breathe deeply, move their legs and arms and learn about the world around them. And when the child is in diapers, he cannot move, feeling stagnation in all limbs. Every time he is swaddled, he feels abused. After all, his arms and legs are straightened by force, which, according to the idea of ​​​​nature, should be bent, the child whimpers and tries to pull out the pen, but cannot, and suffers from this. Swaddling has a bad effect on the mental, emotional and physical development of the child. In addition, in diapers, he does not feel the closeness of the mother's body and feels abandoned.

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So that the child, not bound by diapers, does not scratch himself with fingernails, he is first put on a flannel shirt with closed sleeves, but pretty soon his hands are opened and then his mother takes him by the fingers, and he feels new touches necessary for his development.

Why does a newborn not need to sleep for a long time?

Yes, a child without diapers wakes himself up with his hands and often wakes up. But this is good: he should not sleep 8-10 hours a day in the first months, because he needs to eat often. The mother also needs frequent feedings in the postpartum period, because while the baby is eating mother's milk, the woman's uterus contracts well and there is no bleeding. And there is no stagnation of milk in the chest, because the newborn now and then needs to eat, and even if he burps, he soon reaches for the mother's breast again. Moms should take this completely calmly and not try to introduce hourly feeding regimens. At night, the child also eats when he wants. So it is better for the health of the mother, and for the development of the baby.

It's easier to breathe without diapers!

Another important point: children who are not constrained by diapers can breathe freely, which is very important. This is the prevention of inflammatory processes, bronchitis and obstructive pulmonary diseases. And in diapers, his lungs open much longer and harder, which can be the cause of inflammatory processes.

An interesting thing is swaddling, because until recently, all kinds of pieces of fabric, called diapers, were almost the only baby's wardrobe in the first months of life. And for hundreds, and maybe thousands of years, mankind has not come up with anything better than wrapping a newborn tightly in a piece of textile. Remember yourself (although this is unlikely), ask your mother, look at children's photos - it is unlikely that your parents did not swaddle you, in Soviet times this was a mandatory measure.

Now the situation is better and simpler, fortunately for our contemporaries, and swaddling honorably faded into the background. Some even consider it a relic of the past and flatly refuse to buy diapers, preferring tiny children's suits. But is swaddling a newborn baby today really just a tribute to tradition that does not carry any meaning? But what about our predecessors, did they really swaddle their children out of hopelessness, did no one guess to sew pants and a blouse? No, it's not that simple, and let's find out why.

Baby in a cocoon - everyone is happy!

To be honest, such a ritual as swaddling has a deep meaning. If you think logically, it is not difficult to guess that for many years children have been wrapped in cloth to keep warm, ensure immobility and ease of manipulation with them, for example, when feeding.

Newborn babies are still imperfect and are, one might say, in an intermediate state between a warm mother's tummy and a large open world, they are still adapting, and their body is "tuning" to a new stage. Accordingly, the expanse of the world in which the little one found himself is somewhat frightening, because it was much cozier and more comfortable in the warm, albeit cramped, mother's tummy. The thermoregulation of a newborn child can also “falter”, therefore, wrapping the baby in a diaper, the mother not only creates some “intimacy” for him, imitating the womb, but also helps the body to keep warm.

Swaddling in some way solves the problem with involuntary movements of the baby's limbs due to physiological muscle hypertonicity. This condition usually disappears by 8-10 weeks of age, and sharp uncontrolled swings of the arms and legs are gradually replaced by measured movements. So, it often happens that a young mother loses all peace and is exhausted, remaining exhausted by morning due to her child’s poor sleep. And the child did not sleep well because the little naughty hands twitched and frightened him. The experience of our mothers and grandmothers clearly proves that babies sleep better in a diaper, without distracting themselves with their own uncontrolled twitches.

Well, it is much easier for inexperienced young parents to deal with the fruit of their love if it is carefully wrapped in a diaper, without waving its legs and arms. You can put an end to it with a weighty argument, saying that swaddling is simple, cheap and cheerful. A piece of chintz or flannel costs an order of magnitude cheaper than clothes for newborns, it is easier to remove / put on it and there are no problems in washing.

Swaddling at night

It is unlikely that someone already swaddles the baby all the time, completely abandoning these delightful clothes. This trend continues only in the maternity hospital, when there may be no other options, and the medical staff will be able to manage a bunch of kids faster if they look like little caterpillars. By the way, in modern maternity hospitals, the use of clothes for a baby brought by a young mother is not forbidden at all. A woman can both swaddle a child “in the old fashioned way”, and dress him up in more comfortable clothes for both him and her. If desired, nurses teach primiparous women the skill of skillful swaddling, so much so that no Google will teach better.

But this is a small digression. Most of all, mothers are interested in whether it is necessary to swaddle a child at night, because, as already mentioned, children sleep better at night in a diaper. But not all and not always. Indeed, most modern parents prefer not to use swaddling all the time, giving the baby complete freedom of movement during the day, and swaddling him only at night for the greater good. It would seem that everyone immediately feels good: the newly-made parents get more or less enough sleep, just like the little one.

But here you need to look at the situation, focus on the baby. It happens that some children do not really like the restriction of movements from birth and surprisingly free themselves from chintz fetters by fiddling with their hands. In this case, swaddling is unlikely to be appropriate. Choosing the most optimal option, you can try, in addition to the classic diaper, modern “cocoons” with Velcro and zippers.

Someone will like a sleeping bag, and someone will feel comfortable in the so-called sleepsuits with closed legs and sometimes even mitten handles. In extreme cases, you can put the baby to sleep on the tummy. There is nothing to worry about, unless you put 10 soft feather beds in the child's bed, as in that fairy tale. Lying on his stomach, the child will not suffocate if he sleeps on a hard, even surface without pillows, does not scratch or disturb himself with a pen. Yes, and colic, they say, is less of a concern.

But in most cases, night swaddling makes life much easier for parents, giving a calm and sometimes even very long sleep, and comfort, peace and emotional stability for the newborn. By the way, many newborn babies stop crying and calm down if they are swaddled and cuddled. This is so useful advice from life.

But if a young mother is still waiting for discharge from the postpartum department with a happy envelope in her hands, she may doubt the need for nightly swaddling in the maternity hospital. It happens that the neighbors in the ward will dress up their babies in pretty suits, casually pushing the state-owned diapers to the far corner. And the kids seem to sleep well. Or maybe you don’t need to wrap it in a diaper, as if in Soviet times ... I will say one thing, is it necessary to swaddle a child at night in a maternity hospital - a rather rhetorical question. As a last resort, if you doubt the appropriateness of this procedure, consult with the medical staff.

Harmful diapers

Surely you have heard that swaddling is harmful and even traumatic in physical and psychological terms. Unfortunately, such rumors are not unfounded. Improper swaddling can really harm the baby, namely:

• disrupts blood circulation;

• makes it difficult to breathe;

• completely paralyzes movement, making it impossible to move;

• can provoke dislocation;

• leads to diaper rash;

• the likelihood of overheating;

• leads to stress and makes it impossible to explore the world.

But it is worth correcting that the above phenomena are true for the so-called tight swaddling, widely used in Soviet times. Remember those photographs or clippings from the news, where the little ones, like soldiers, lay on the line with legs and arms tightly wrapped in fabric? What was left for them? Only cry. And earlier it was considered an effective prevention of rickets and a happy ticket to slender model legs. As it turned out, all this is nonsense, and modern neonatologists and pediatricians as one recognize tight swaddling as inappropriate and traumatic. From a personal example: I know one case 50 years ago, when one Soviet woman regularly swaddled her child right up to 9 months! It's absurd, but it used to be the norm.

Yes, and a modern range of clothes and accessories for babies allows you to purchase an excellent alternative to diapers. What are some diapers worth, which make life so much easier for mom, eliminating endless washes. Why then all these endless and ever-drying pieces of rags? For many parents with such a wide range of products for newborns, the question "to swaddle or not to swaddle a newborn" is no longer a question.

How to be?

And yet, what to do in such a situation? If swaddling is so helpful in some moments, but so harmful, is it possible to find a good alternative? In secret, on one tight method of swaddling with a wedge, the light did not converge. Now, including in modern maternity hospitals, variants of the so-called free swaddling are practiced. At first, the child is swaddled entirely, leaving only the head uncovered, so that the arms are tightly pressed to the body, and the legs flounder freely in a small bag of fabric.

A slightly older baby will feel comfortable already with free arms, while the legs are swaddled in a similar way, forming a pouch. This method does not cause deformities of the limbs or any discomfort in the baby and is used by modern parents along with ordinary children's clothes.

Be that as it may, to swaddle or not a newborn baby - you decide and only. More specifically, your baby. If he feels calm and comfortable in a diaper, then why not. If vehemently resists, then why spoil the lives of both. But if you still decide "the old fashioned way", then you should not get carried away, swaddling makes sense only up to 2-3 months of the baby's life.

Babies all over the world have been swaddled for centuries. They did this in Russia too: they twisted a child, wrapping it in long, narrow strips of fabric - swaddlings. It was believed that thanks to them the child would be calm, and grow up slender and beautiful.

In Soviet maternity hospitals, this tradition may have been known, but babies were swaddled for other reasons. “There can be several dozen newborns in the children’s department at the same time,” says Olga Kormukhina, pediatrician, neonatologist. - The most effective way to calm them down is to swaddle them. And even if the baby is in the cohabitation ward with his mother, in the first days after childbirth, the woman is very weak. A newborn wrapped in diapers falls asleep faster, which gives the opportunity to rest and his mother, too.

In favor of swaddling speaks and Olga Rusina, deputy director of the Jewel parent school, childbirth instructor, professional midwife, mother of four children. “For a mother of many children, the question does not arise whether to swaddle or not: definitely yes! she says. - Having quickly calmed the baby, she can do something around the house, and devote time to other children. With the first-born, you can still get carried away by dressing him in fashion, and there is plenty of time. I didn't swaddle my older one either. And now, being the mother of four children, I understand how twisting is necessary for a small child.

Experts agree that swaddling up to a certain age is beneficial both for health and for the harmonious psychological development of the baby. First of all, it provides the so-called sense of border, which is very important for the development and formation of a new little man. This boundary can be viewed from different points of view.

Swaddling as a physical boundary

The safety factor. During the period of intrauterine development, the baby is in a limited, cramped space for a long time. And after birth, he suddenly finds himself in an unusually huge world. Such sudden changes frighten him. Therefore, it is important for a newborn to create conditions that maximally resemble his position in the uterus. This, among other things, is achieved with the help of swaddling. Keep in mind that many children from birth make a lot of movements. It is difficult to calm down such active babies, they often wake themselves up with their hands, turn over in a dream on their stomach, which is not safe for the baby in the first weeks of life. By swaddling a child, it is easy for him to ensure a restful sleep.

health factor. Proper swaddling in some cases is necessary for the normal formation of the child's body. “In our time, when most babies are not swaddled at all, the percentage of children with hip dysplasia, various kinds of spinal curvature, prolapse and displacement of the peritoneal organs is growing,” says Olga Kormukhina. - Muscles, tendons, joint capsules, and even the bones themselves in newborns are weak. When the baby's arms and legs dangle freely, the tendons stretch, move, twist, and the joints pop out. In addition, due to their own uncoordinated movements, the child may be injured.

Swaddling as a psychological boundary

obedience factor. A child must learn from infancy that there are certain limits in life. This helps in shaping the character of the little man. It is difficult to cope with a crumb that knows no boundaries. As a mother, and educators in kindergarten, teachers at school. The socialization of such children is more difficult: they are capricious and restless, it is more difficult for them to concentrate, be patient, and maintain order.

Patience factor. “Such an important human quality as the ability to endure is laid down during childbirth, when mother and baby have to endure painful contractions,” explains Olga Rusina. “After birth, the learning of patience continues in the diaper. The kid lies motionless for some time and puts up with some restrictions. But how pleasant it is for him then to receive a “reward” for his patience - maternal affection and love! Therefore, it is very important every time, unswaddling a child, be sure to stroke him, caress, talk. This is a kind of learning: over and over again, a child develops a habit - be patient a little and you will be rewarded.

A factor of affection and respect for loved ones. The diaper teaches the child not only to keep his own boundaries, but also not to violate the boundaries of another person. Subsequently, on this basis, the ability to divide people into friends (relatives, friends) and strangers will be formed. The ability to trust your own, but be wary of strangers, not talk to them on the street, etc.

Types of swaddling

Are there trendy alternatives to diapers? Undoubtedly! These are sleeping bags for babies, and free swaddling systems, and, by the way, sling scarves too! All these methods are divided according to how and what exactly you will “twist” the baby.

Tight swaddling. Classic swaddling with arms and legs, which is used in maternity hospitals. Usually two diapers are used for it. If your baby is extremely active, cries a lot and sleeps restlessly, this is your effective way to calm him down. “It is very important to learn the correct technique for such swaddling,” emphasizes Olga Kormukhina. - Acting clumsily, you can disrupt the blood circulation of the crumbs, provoke a dislocation of the femoral head. They can show you how to properly swaddle a baby tightly both in the maternity hospital and in the children's clinic.

Free swaddling. In this case, the baby is in a free cocoon and can freely move his arms and legs. A modern alternative to such swaddling is various sleeping bags for children. So you can swaddle the baby when he is in front of his mother, for example, on a walk in a stroller. The child is supervised, and if he suddenly wakes himself up with his hands, the mother will see and reassure him.

Swaddling without handles. Only the legs are covered with a diaper, and the handles remain free. This swaddling can be used, for example, on a daytime walk in the warm season.

How often and for how long should you swaddle your baby?

In many respects it depends on the characteristics of the newborn. If the baby is nervous, does not sleep well, you need to swaddle during the day often, and at night it is necessary. You can also resort to swaddling “for selfish purposes”, for example, when you need to do something around the house, but the baby does not calm down. By wrapping it in a blanket, you will quickly calm down the roaming little one. “I advise all mothers to listen to the needs of their children,” recommends Olga Rusina. “After a couple of weeks after the birth of the crumbs, you will understand when it is better to swaddle him, and when you can leave him in sliders or bodysuits.”

When to finish swaddling? There is no single answer to this question either. Some mothers constantly twist the baby for the first month, and then do it occasionally. Others wrap the baby up to 4-5 months. “There are parents who completely swaddle the baby until the moment when he starts to sit down,” Olga Kormukhina adds. - It makes some sense. Just by this point in time, the upper body of the crumbs will be strong enough, and its movements will become more controlled.

It happens that once they refuse to swaddle, they return to it. For example, they went to visit, the child returned agitated, overexcited. The best "sleeping pill" in this case is to bathe and swaddle at night. By the way, in a similar way, you can calm grown-up children by wrapping them in a blanket or blanket.

In any case, swaddling should not be regarded as a relic of the past. It is useful both for the baby and for the mother, whose peace of mind is no less important than the comfort of the crumbs.