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Wrapping babies in blanket or swaddling can be done in a simple way. You don’t have to check whether the baby is covered in blanket at night. Since the wrapped baby sleeps on his or her back only, it prevents the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS. It can soothe colicky babies too.

Starting Point:

When to start wrapping your baby? It clearly depends on the baby. If he or she finds it comfortable, you can wrap the baby. Some prefer to keep their hands or feet free. So you have to experiment with it to know your baby’s preference. But you should stop it when your baby can roll by himself. You can use sleeping bag then.

How to Wrap?

Here is the simplest trick:

1. Take a muslin or cotton blanket and place it on a flat surface.
2. Fold one corner in half like a diamond top and place your baby there on her back so that baby’s head is outside of the blanket.
3. Pull the top left corner across the baby’s body and tuck it in the right corner of baby’s body. Do similar thing with top right corner too.
4. Take the bottom portion and pull it upwards. Tuck it over right shoulder of the baby.
5. Check it whether it’s too tight or loose. You have to adjust it a little in the chest portion so that the baby can breathe properly.
6. Check the tightness of blanket in hip area. If the blanket is tight there, the baby can develop hip dysplasia later.

Safety Measures to Take:

1. In winter, wrap baby in woolen blanket. But in summer, use muslin or cotton ones. If the baby’s body is warm enough, put on just diapers and wrap her. Otherwise it will lead to overheating which further results to SIDS.

8. Make sure baby’s cheek, mouth and ears are open to prevent the risk of suffocation.
9. Don’t use too soft mattress in baby’s crib. Baby’s face may be against mattress and thus your child will feel uncomfortable and wake up.
10. Make sure that the baby is sleeping on the back only because sleeping on stomach can lead to accidental suffocation.
11. Don’t smoke near baby crib.
12. The crib should be of free of soft toys and other things since it can suffocate your baby when she starts to roll.
13. Make sure your baby is not wet otherwise it can lead to cold and flu.Put some powder on baby’s body so that it absorbs the extra moisture.
14. Don’t put any blanket over the wrapped baby as it will lead to overheating.

Risk Factor:

Due to swaddling, babies do not wake up easily. The decreased arousal is one of the main reasons of SIDS.After wrapping the baby, you can gently rock her so that she goes to sleep quickly.

To know more about swaddles, click here.