Is swaddling out now?

jalaiaa · March 2012

We were just discharged from the hospital a couple days ago and both the discharge nurse and the pediatrician said no more swaddling. They mentioned that it can increase the risk of SIDS and that they found that swaddled infants tend to have more hip issues because of being swaddled too tightly. We swaddled both of our boys until 3-4 months or so but I just went and bought a sleep sack for this LO. Has anyone else been told no swaddling? Just curious.

ETA: A lot of the postpartum nurses were still swaddling him and one told us to, but the discharging pediatrician said they are starting to educate the staff not to and in a few months they are transitioning to sleep sacs.

lindsayandjamie · March 2012

We were taught to swaddle at the hospital although we rarely do it at home since LO doesn't seem to care much for it. I know extended swaddleing can cause hip issues but I thought that was if their legs are restricted later on and not at the newborn stage...

AZ_Erica · March 2012

The nurses swaddled DD at the hospital. We have never swaddled past 1 month though. DD was 4 weeks yesterday and we will be switching to sleep sacks.

mrsjenlynne · March 2012

I was told by both the nurses and my LO's Dr to swaddle him. In fact, it's the key to him sleeping almost 8 straight hours through the night and he's been doing that since 2 1/2 weeks old! I understand the whole hip thing, so I try not to do it super tight, just snug. If it weren't for swaddling him, he would wake himself up because he waves his arms around too much.

jenflowers · March 2012

My DS is 9 weeks and we still swaddled up till last week because his arms wake him up in the night. I started to use sleep sack this week which is great because he can move his legs and hips around.

drkcrystl4@aol.com · March 2012

I've never heard that before. Our DS was swaddled in the hospital and we still swaddle him most of the time when he's sleeping. He also has a problem waking himself up if his arms are free. Now that we are home though we use the velcro swaddles called SwaddleMe I think. It wraps his arms up tight, but his legs aren't so restricted that I think he's at risk for hip issues.

mfgale09 · March 2012

they swaddled in the nicu but told us they don't recommend it anymore unless you leave their arms out, they said they do it cause they are monitored. the pedi also said no blankets except sleep sack kind of things. we still swaddle with their arms out.

sunnyday016 · March 2012

I've never heard that. DS was in the special care nursery in the hospital and they swaddled him. We swaddle him at home.

JenJH923 · March 2012

I'm an RN in a newborn nursery and we are told to swaddle the upper body and leave the legs more loosely wrapped. We are told this for the exact reason you said- hip issues from swaddling too tight. We use halo sleep sacks so they aren't an issue, but I think the issue is when you are using your own blanket and swaddling the baby.

llc730 · March 2012

JenJH923:
I'm an RN in a newborn nursery and we are told to swaddle the upper body and leave the legs more loosely wrapped. We are told this for the exact reason you said- hip issues from swaddling too tight. We use halo sleep sacks so they aren't an issue, but I think the issue is when you are using your own blanket and swaddling the baby.

This is exactly what they did when DD was in the Level 2 nursery. Since DD2 was so big (10 lbs 11 oz, 22.5 in at birth) she never fit into the newborn Halo Sleep sack with swaddle that we had. We have just been using the regular sleep sacks and DD has been sleeping 2 3-4 hr stretches at night for the last week so I figure we are doing pretty good.

Vii Lii · March 2012

SandAndsSea:
We use the swaddleme blankets that are loose around the legs and hips but keep his arms tight. Without it he hits himself in the face and wakes up.

This

babyboymama11 · March 2012

Don't know what we'd do without the SwaddleMe blankets!

dottymobo · March 2012

Our hospital has also switched to the swaddle blankets that are only tight around the arms because of the hip research.

Shmogan09 · March 2012

SandAndsSea:
We use the swaddleme blankets that are loose around the legs and hips but keep his arms tight. Without it he hits himself in the face and wakes up.

This exactly

FirstTimeMom2012 · March 2012

I Swaddle DD with Aden + Anais blankets and plan on doing so until 4-5 months.

led2009 · March 2012

According to one of our nurses swaddling is bad. It prevents them from doing the "startle" reflex and when they can't startle themselves it contributes to SIDS. That was one of the big changes from DD 1 to DD 2. They now use Halo sleep sacks instead of recieving blankets. That being said, if either of my DDs had liked being swaddled and it got me more sleep, I'd probably have done it. As it is, niether of them could stand being confined so we used sleep sacks instead. We didn't even use the Halo from the hospital because the swaddle wings just got in the way.

bpwife&mama · March 2012

We still swaddle and were told to swaddle at thes hospital. I use the Swaddlemes. If we didn't, our DS would never sleep at night. He would be waking himself up with his hands all night long.

Thinkerbelle80 · March 2012

That is so strange. I've heard that swaddling reduces the risk of SIDS. However, the hip thing is correct. We use the Halo Swaddle sacks because only the arms are swaddled and the hips are free to frog leg like a baby normally lies so the hip thing isn't an issue like it is with a traditional blanket. At the hospital, they swaddled our daughter.

grapeape73 · March 2012

This post makes me sad that I won't have a newborn to swaddle anymore. We used the miracle blanket, and then the Woombie for the reasons about the hips. DD2 was breech, so her hips were already wonky.

I swear she would still sleep in the Woombie if she could.

smitt2619 · March 2012

To echo what a few others have said, my understanding is that the concern with swaddling is hip dysplasia from swaddling too tight. We exclusively used the Halo swaddlers, which are the only ones that are considering "hip healthy" because they are loose around the hips, but still keep the arms nice and tight. I have never heard that swaddling is actually a SIDS risk, provided you did it correctly that is. Besides being looser on the hips, I love that the Halo ones have an inverted zipper and are really easy to swaddle with arms out if desired (just the belly wrapped).

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