Swaddling Is Illegal?
On Monday I posted my review of The Happiest Baby Guide to Great Sleep by Dr. Harvey Karp, M.D. Dr. Karp is the man behind the very successful, and highly applauded, Happiest Baby on the Block strategies. In these books and DVDs, as well as The Happiest Baby Guide to Great Sleep, he promotes what he calls on the 5 S’s. These are swaddling, side/stomach, shushing, swinging, and sucking. These S’s are supposed to help calm children helping them to be happier and sleep better, and in turn it does the same for the parents. My post went up live Monday morning, and in the afternoon my friend posted that she had read a blog post that said that hospitals are starting to tell parents not to swaddle anymore. Not only that, but it is ILLEGAL for childcare facilities in the state of Minnesota to swaddle children! It is also discouraged in the states of California and Pennsylvania.
I was shocked when I read the post about the swaddling debate on Slate written by Melinda Wenner Moyer. I was especially surprised when I read that the basis behind no swaddling came from a decision made by the National Resource Center on Child Health and Safety (NCR) in 2011. That was the same year Nick was born. This means that in one part of the country a Colorado based organization was saying that parents shouldn’t swaddle their kids because it was harmful, and at the same time in Michigan we were in the hospital having nurses show us the proper way to swaddle.
The question is why would the NCR make such a decision? They are claiming that swaddling can increase SIDs and that it can cause hip problems. The fact is though that their basing their claim on unscientific studies. I thought for some time about how swaddling could cause SIDs. If you don’t swaddle correctly than I suppose that it could come undone and your child could suffocate on the blanket, but the likelihood of that doesn’t seem to be enough to make such a claim. It seems that there was a British study that found a higher risk of SIDs with swaddling, but the study was looking at SIDs risks associated with cosleeping. Swaddling was not a variable in the study. Dr. Karp points out in The Happiest Baby Guide to Great Sleep that cosleeping can be safe if followed correctly, but an elevated risk of SIDs has been found when parents cosleep with their newborn. The other thing to note is that Dr. Karp points out in his book that studies have found that swaddling can actually lower a baby’s SIDs risk by 30% because being swaddled can keep a newborn from accidentally rolling onto his stomach before he’s strong enough to roll himself back or lift himself up. Dr. Karp does touch on the fact that some are worried that swaddling would cause SIDs because it could cause overheating or a very deep sleep, but studies have found this not to be true with correct swaddling.
As far as the hip problems? There isn’t much basis to that either. Yes, if a baby is swaddled incorrectly and left in the swaddle 24 hours a day then it could cause problems, but that actually takes some work. Dr. Karp addresses this common concern specifically in his book. He says that when a baby is swaddled correctly, meaning that his legs are easily able to bend and open at the hips, that swaddling doesn’t cause any problems. In fact the International Hip Dysplasia Institute even has said that correct swaddling is safe and won’t hurt a baby’s hips.
Even the thought of a group telling parents not to swaddle their kid still annoys me. Many parents have stopped swaddling due to this recommendation. What you end up with then are unhappy and cranky babies that have a hard time being calm and sleeping. This in turn makes for exhausted and unhappy parents. Dr. Karp even points out in his book that while not a lot is know about what causes Postpartum Depression (PPD) it has been seen that the risk of PPD significantly drops when moms are getting a decent amount of sleep.
I’m no doctor, but I would swaddle Nick again in a heartbeat. If I had any friends that asked I would tell them to swaddle too. I can’t even begin to imagine what our lives would have been like if we hadn’t swaddled Nick. I think this proves that people need to do the research themselves before making a decision about what they will and won’t do for their child. Oh, and where does the American Academy of Pediatrics stand on all of this? They haven’t taken an official stance on swaddling safety, but they do say that swaddling “is an effective way to calm infants, especially in the newborn period…”
Where do you stand on swaddling, and do you think sates should make it illegal in childcare settings?
Well I’ve seen studies showing SID is linked to vaccines. I loved swaddling and so did my kids.
Swaddling was a God-send for all three of our girls. And, I thought it helped to reduce SIDS?
And the hip thing? That’s if people don’t wrap the legs properly and too tight.
Parents will never agree on things, will they?
It can help reduce SIDs. The study that says otherwise was not a good scientific study.
This really blows my mind – when I had my daughter, we were told by the hospital to swaddle her!
Same here!
I swaddled all of my kids.
We swaddled, however I feel the “Swaddle Me” brand wrap is very dangerous. I woke up one night and my daughter had moved her arm under and the wrap was covering her face. We never used that one again.
That’s scary! We just used receiving blankets.
My gut reaction is that ‘people’ need to simmer down! Making things like blankets (that’s essentially what ‘they’ are saying) ILLEGAL is embarrassing. It makes Americans looks like we can’t even ue blanets properly without governmental intervention. Okay, I’m done.
I swaddled my son until he kept escaping from it — we used the Swaddleme blankets and will definitely swaddle our future babies! We had a sad situation happen at my son’s sitter’s this year where a baby passed away from SIDS. How the State and News jump all over that – it was so sad because nothing could have been done to prevent the baby’s death. It’s scary how careful daycares have to be now a days!
Interesting. We did a half swaddle of sorts with both of ours. They loved it but they also sucked their thumbs so they had to have their arms free.
We did a half swaddle too. Nick had to be able to have his hands out. Even when he was born they were up by his face.
Sounds ridiculous to me
We couldn’t have made it without swaddling our son. We tried until he was about one. He is very healthy.
I am pretty sure that I am going to swaddle. Just got that book from my mother in law. Looks good. Need to read it before July.
Just about everything in parenting has a side that says not to do stuff & a side that says it’s great, so I’m not surprised that there’s conflict with swaddling now. I still intend to swaddle my next child until there’s REAL proof against it.
Very interesting. We swaddled the two youngest, and after lots of trial and error found what blankets worked best for our kids. I don’t know how comfortable I am with someone else swaddling my child, in a setting outside of my home and away from me – maybe they do it too tightly? Or too loosely and baby can suffocate on the loose blanket up by their face? The daycare wouldn’t want to be responsible for that and have to deal with that legal trouble. It won’t stop me from swaddling at home though, it’s calming and comforting.
They come up with everything! 🙁
Interesting!! I had no idea this debate was going on! I swaddled both babies when they were newborn but gave up once they were able to break free (and I’m not a very good swaddler, so if I’d worked on my technique I may have been able to swaddle longer). Until I saw this, I had never thought about having my child swaddled in a childcare setting…not sure how I would feel if I were in that situation. I do know that I cosleep with my kids and did even when they were newborns, and lots of groups recommend against that (also based on faulty studies)…I kind of feel like most baby “studies” need to be taken with a grain of salt.
And for the record, I would probably swaddle my next baby, too, if I were going to have one.
Even though my MIL runs the daycare Nick went to we kept him out until he was over 4 months, so swaddling wasn’t as important. That being said I don’t think he would have slept there if he had been younger and they hadn’t been able to swaddle him. I would much rather have a happy little that was able to sleep that’s for sure! I think it would be better to have the daycare workers go through training to know how to properly swaddle than to make it illegal. Especially since a daycare’s answer to an unhappy baby is to give them a bottle, and that isn’t good either.
Wow! Everyone I know swaddled/swaddles. I didn’t because my son would NOT allow us to swaddle him. Really. He was 3 years old before we could even cover him up at night. It was funny. I’ve not heard anything about this… that swaddling was not only not recommended but illegal. Honestly, I’m not sure what to think. I guess I would have to see more intensive studies.
That’s funny that he was so against blankets. Nick not only loved being swaddled, but he still loves to snuggle up in blankets.
I am just stunned reading this. I swaddled both of my kids and I agree that without swaddling, babies will NOT be happy. They are used to being “swaddled” in the womb.
I just don’t get this…I really don’t. To make it illegal though? Ridiculous!
I know. It’s such an extreme! Daycares all over are put under so many rules. My friend’s little one was so tiny at 2 years that his doctor wanted him to stay on whole milk for another year. The problem was that a daycare can’t legally serve whole milk to a child over 2 without written permission from the doctor.
Very interesting! Swaddling didn’t work for us, but I know we tried. And we co-slept…I think people have to find what works best for their family and baby. SIDS is such a scary thing…people tend to grasp at anything to try and prevent it.
You’re right about that. I do think one of the problems here is that a lot of babies die from SIDs at daycare. My guess is that the state of Minnesota was trying to save the daycares from that problem, but I don’t think they went about it right.