Newborns and babies less than a month get disturbed often in their sleep even for minute disturbances. They have very less control over their movements and cannot bear sudden sounds or glaring lights. The limbs stretch out loosely and they would not be able to control them. They then start crying and find it difficult to get back to sleep for hours together. Their cat naps of about half an hour do not give them the rest they want.

Parents find it difficult to understand and interpret what is the discomfort for the infant. It is also a challenge for them to stop the baby from waking up suddenly. They sometimes face a cranky infant who keeps crying for hours together. They lose their confidence and end up getting stressed out if they cannot give the rest to their baby. If your infant is just a few days old, the foremost solution you can try is called swaddling. Babies can also cry if they feel tired, hungry or wet. So before swaddling, ensure that the above reasons are not true.

Swaddling is the technique of wrapping your infant in a cosy blanket in order to provide the necessary security and warmth so that he or she does not get disturbed easily. You can also prevent the baby from waking up with a jerk due to subtle disturbances. It helps the infant to remain calm and feel secure. In short, swaddling keeps your baby snugly wrapped so that he or she is not highly stimulated by the external environment.

Some others find it very difficult to swaddle their babies perfectly. Initially, you may not be able to perfectly wrap the baby like how the infant was handed over to you in the hospital. However, practicing for sometime is the key to experience. Swaddling also gives some rest to the mother until the next feed. When the baby sleeps undisturbed, the mother can also rest for some time.

Note that not all the babies like the swaddling process. In case he or she experiences discomfort, try to wrap the baby less tightly to allow some movement of the arms.

Use soft cotton blankets as they are suitable for the tender baby skin. Ensure that they are not too thick for the baby or too small that they cannot be wrapped. In fact, you can find swaddling blankets with Velcro straps to make it easier to use.

One of the tricky situations is to know when to stop swaddling the baby! You can try and see if your baby sleeps undisturbed for sometime without swaddling when he or she is one or two months old. Swaddling restricts the mobility of the body and hence, you need to ensure that you do not restrict the natural growth.

In case the baby starts kicking out when you start wrapping, you may have to slowly stop this process. You should also avoid swaddling if the baby begins to roll over. In addition, swaddling is not good if your baby is already in a warm room.

Jonathan Pitts

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