Date:    Thu, 24 Oct 2002 18:01:40 +0100
From:    Helen Ball <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: swaddling -- the special case of bed-sharing babies

On the issue of swaddling, I am compelled to jump in here and comment about
the following statement from a previous post:

"Swaddling also helps keep co-sleeping babies from scooting around in your
bed and lodging on a pillow or falling off."

In the course of our research we have studied lots of videos of bed-sharing
babies in recent years and we always emphatically recommend against
swaddling babies who are sleeping in their parents' bed. A baby with his/her
arms and legs unimpeded can and will alert you to their presence if you
inadvertently get too close. A swaddled baby cannot. Nor can he/she root
effectively or locate the breast without assistance. I have described on
this list previously how breastfeeding moms sleep curled around their babies
in a protective position that very effectively prevents babies from scooting
around the bed, getting into pillows, and falling off the bed. Such babies
are enclosed in their mother's arms. Why would they need enclosing in
anything else?

Both UNICEF and Royal College of Midwives guidelines for safe bed-sharing
here in UK recommend against swaddling a baby in its parents' bed (but then
I had a hand in both sets of guidelines -- so I suppose they would, wouldn't
they!).

Regards,
Helen
________________
Dr Helen Ball
Director, Parent-Infant Sleep Lab, Dept. Anthropology, University of Durham,
UK


Dear Dr. Ball,

I certainly agree with you that a swaddled baby can't locate the breast
without assistance...however, that can easily be accomplished by a mother
bringing her baby to the breast when he cries (there is always the option of
removing the wraps during the nursing to help the baby wake fully and take a
vigorous feeding).

However, I would suggest that babies may well need enclosing in something
else.  Young infants who die in bedsharing situations often do so because
they DO move around and their heads get wedged into the headboard or pillow
(we all know how babies migrate to the top of a bassinette or crib until
they feel a reassuring pressure against their heads).

CHeers,

harvey

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