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Swaddling is an age old practice of covering up the baby cosily to give him the protection. It also results in mitigating the amount of sudden jerks. Swaddling also imposes restrictions on the movement thus protecting the infant. It is said that swaddling reduce Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and the babies who are swaddled sleep more peacefully. Recent studies however have been predicting that swaddling increases the chances of developmental dysplasia of the hip.

The benefits of swaddling can be stated as follows

• Swaddling results in sounder and longer sleep

As babies are prone to being snuggled tightly inside the womb, it results in longer duration of sleep hours. For adults it might not work but it is beneficial for babies to a large extent.

• No need of using bumpers

Usage of pillows as bumpers to protect the kid from unknown mishaps can be eradicated as motion is restricted by the enforcement of swaddling.

• Waking up as a consequence of sudden reflex moments is prevented and consequent crying too

Due to reflex movements when the hands or the legs move then the kid’s gets startled and consequently they get scared and to diminish the stimuli, kids start crying their heart out.

• Swaddling makes the kid feel protected and secure

Swaddling makes the infants feel protected just like the time when they were inside the womb of their mother. Thus swaddling acts like a cocoon that is protecting the kid. It is known to deplete the levels of anxiety faced by new born. It feigns a touch and this is really essential for babies when they get up at night.

• Sound sleep for a longer duration of time

As the baby sleeps more, the parents do not have to keep a check on the baby by waking up all the time. Thus both the parents and the kid gets more sleep.

• No scratches or relatively low scratches

The nails of infants are known to be sharp and grow at a faster rate. It has been seen that a majority proportion of the kids scratch their faces while they are asleep the risk of scratching his or her face is not an option at all.

To swaddle a baby one corner of the blanket should be folded to a few inches. The baby should be kept on the blanket with his head on the corner that was previously folded. Next one corner of the blanket should cover his am and body and tucked on the other side. Now the bottom part should be folded and the feet should be covered. The next step is to take the right side of the blanket and cover the body. The only part visible should be the area above the neck.