The baby was born. One of the first questions that parents will definitely have is whether to swaddle a baby.

Grandmothers, of course, will convince in chorus that swaddling is vital, and tighter, otherwise “it will wake itself up with its hands”, “it will not sleep well”, etc. The older generation has a thousand and one reasons in their arsenal, which they at any time ready to explain the benefits of swaddling. However, parents should weigh the pros and cons. And in this they are ready to help a well-known pediatrician and author of books and articles on children's health Evgeny Komarovsky.

A bit of history

Diapers appeared when people realized that the baby needs to be protected from the cold, wind, and sun. And it happened in ancient times. The first diaper was the skin of an animal.

Diapers have evolved along with mankind. Obviously, says Yevgeny Komarovsky, they existed for a long time so that adults could save on clothes. For the first six months, a baby who is tightly wrapped in rectangular pieces of fabric of different densities really does not really need pants and shirts.

A little later, the diapers found a medical justification. So, even 20-30 years ago, in maternity hospitals, doctors explained to women in childbirth that swaddling would make the baby's legs smoother, and he himself would be calmer. Swaddling was taught even before childbirth, for "training" they used rubber baby dolls, similar in size to newborns. They even reached the invention of several swaddling techniques - tight, free, partial.

Over time, pediatricians began to notice that legs crooked from birth do not straighten, no matter how much a child is swaddled, and in general, children who, due to the “negligence” of clumsy mothers, grow unswaddled, develop faster physically and mentally. So what was dogma began to be questioned.

Later it turned out that it is more difficult for swaddled children to breathe, and the kids, who are finally untied, immediately take a certain position - they tighten their legs and arms. It is this position that is more physiologically correct for the baby, familiar, because in the womb for 9 months he lives and develops without diapers.

Doctors and parents were the first to rush to eradicate tight swaddling. Then they began to swaddle in a new way - widely. A child who, under the diaper, moves his arms and legs and draws his knees under the diaper, does not look as beautiful and neat as the “column” that results from tight swaddling. But the benefit for him has become much greater, if only because the kids have become more comfortable.

A little later, child psychologists and other specialists appeared who took it upon themselves to authoritatively declare that swaddling, even free swaddling, is dangerous for a child - a boldly thinking, freedom-loving and independent person will never grow out of him.

Swaddle or not?

Yevgeny Komarovsky advises parents not to take such "scientific works" to heart. First of all, because they were written and invented by people who were also swaddled in childhood.

In order for a child to grow up as a good, harmonious, developed person, he needs normal intra-family relations in which he will be properly and reasonably brought up. Genetics, heredity, the degree of religiosity of the family in which he grows up, social conditions and many other factors play a role. But no one in the history of our planet has ever been able to reasonably and scientifically prove that a person’s personal qualities are in any way affected by what diapers and with what force he was wrapped at a tender age.

It is for this reason that parents must answer the question of whether to swaddle or not, on their own. How it will be more convenient for the adults themselves.

Benefits of swaddling: economy, convenience, no need to update the wardrobe every month as the child grows.

Benefits of not using diapers:

• the opportunity to entrust dressing to dad, because he is unlikely to learn how to swaddle, and he is quite capable of dressing a child in human pants and a shirt;
• less washing powder on shirts than on diapers;
• The rompers need less space to dry and they dry faster, plus the diapers need to be ironed all the time.

Yevgeny Komarovsky notes that in the summer months, when it is hot, it is better to refuse swaddling, both loose and tight, because it is very easy to overheat a child in diapers. In winter, there is another risk: the baby will still turn around and freeze at night.

Only parents, and only themselves, should make this decision.

There is no harm in swaddling a newborn, says Yevgeny Komarovsky, with the exception of some diagnoses in which it is undesirable to twist the child tightly, for example, with hip dysplasia. But about medical problems, if they occur, doctors will definitely report.

It is also not worth counting on any special benefit from swaddling. A restless child in diapers does not become calmer, especially if he diligently gets out of the hated diaper for half the night instead of sleeping and letting his mother sleep, just because he is hot or uncomfortable in it, or the handle is numb and there is a physiological need to give her a different position in space.

True, sometimes swaddling really helps to fall asleep if the child is nervous, often throws up his arms in his sleep and worries himself.

Ask anyone, as in a popular TV show, to continue the associative series: newborn - ... Probably, nine out of ten will say: "... diapers - undershirts." But recently, all sorts of alternatives to diapers have appeared: bodysuits, overalls, rompers, in which the baby is dressed from birth. What are diapers - a necessity or a tribute to tradition?

Swaddling: background

From time immemorial, newborns and infants were swaddled - "twisted". This tradition was continued in the twentieth century, in particular in our country. This had a number of reasons, and was also partly a necessary measure. Firstly, one diaper can easily and quickly wrap both the body and the head of the baby, if it is relatively cool in the children's department. Secondly, diapers are better and easier to sterilize than baby clothes. Thirdly, in the era of cloth diapers, when frequent changes of them and the entire wet set of clothes were required, swaddling a baby, especially if it was not about a single child, but about an entire department of a medical institution, was much easier than changing blouses and blouses for all these little ones. panties. Then, when a young mother was discharged home with her baby, she immediately faced the same problem of frequent changes of linen, which is why she most often resorted to swaddling.

It would seem that today, when disposable diapers have firmly entered our lives, and our eyes run wide at one glance at the shelves with clothes for newborns, swaddling should have sunk into oblivion. However, even now it is not only applied, but also has its supporters. Let's see what arguments they put forward in favor of the ancient "twisting", and try to evaluate them from the standpoint of modern knowledge.

Arguments "for": a critical look

1. The baby is accustomed to the limited, one might say cramped, space of the mother's womb, and he will be more comfortable if you continue to reproduce this space limitation after his birth. Strictly speaking, today we do not know, and perhaps we will never know what the kids themselves think about this. But after all, a person is born because he is already ready for a change in the conditions of existence, he has already overcome the Rubicon of his birth for this world, and it is not known whether it will be right to return him to the "intrauterine" state. For this, the baby trains the arms and legs inside the mother's belly in order to learn how to use them after birth. Wouldn't it be violence against nature if we began to restrict his freedom? In general, it is natural for a person to think that he is smarter and wiser than nature. So what, that in the process of evolution, mammals came to land to give birth to their children? We necessarily have an opinion that the continuation of the aquatic environment for a newborn baby is better than getting into the air, and we go to give birth in the water. So what, what does a person's dentition say about his adaptability to omnivorousness (a combination of herbivorous and predatory lifestyles)? For us, this is not an argument, and we come up with a theory about contamination of the body with toxins when eating meat, about achieving special spiritual growth when refusing it - and we fall into vegetarianism. Perhaps, in the matter of swaddling, this is following the "glorious" tradition?

2. Perhaps you have heard the following argument from grandmothers: if you do not swaddle the baby, the legs will be crooked. At the same time, "knowledgeable" grannies necessarily advocate tight swaddling, when the legs are straightened, brought together and in this state are tightly fixed with a diaper. Meanwhile, this is not even a myth, but a dangerous delusion. It is difficult to say where it originates from, but in reality everything is exactly the opposite. The fact is that the pathological curvature of the legs (it is formed when the child begins to stand on his feet, and later walk) is most often the result of rickets - a kind of metabolic disorder that leads to the fact that the hardness of the bones decreases, they become more pliable and bend under the weight of the child.

For most of us, ideas about rickets are associated with insufficient exposure to ultraviolet radiation and, as a result, a lack of vitamin D in the body, which plays an important role in the absorption of calcium by bones (it is calcium salts that give bones strength and hardness). In fact, the pathogenesis of rickets is much broader and more complex; in fact, this disease is a disease of growth, when the speed of some processes in the body does not match the speed of others. Currently, the prevention of rickets is widely carried out. Pediatricians are well aware that the so-called non-specific prevention of this disease is much more effective and therefore more important. It includes: rational nutrition (preservation of breastfeeding, feeding on demand, timely introduction of complementary foods and vitamin subsidies), sufficient exposure of the baby to the fresh air during daylight hours (in an open stroller), regular moderate hardening, and most importantly - sufficient physical activity. Of course, vitamin D preparations are also used to treat and prevent rickets, but they "overlap" only one of the many links in the causes and development of the disease. Vitamin D contributes to the deposition of calcium salts in bone tissue. But the fact is that calcium is absorbed by the bones only under the condition of active muscular work! It is the traction of the tendons from working, tensing muscles that triggers the correct physiological mechanisms in the bone tissue. In the absence of muscle contractions, calcium from the bones, on the contrary, is washed out, which ultimately leads to their softening. Therefore, among pediatricians, there is a partly catchphrase in use: "swadd the baby tighter, walk with him only in a closed stroller or only in the evenings, feed him with milk formula and cereals and give a high dose of vitamin D - and you will get" blooming "rickets (which means legs will be crooked). Conversely, many understanding parents manage to avoid even small manifestations of rickets while maintaining a healthy lifestyle and often even without prescribing vitamin D (of course, under close medical supervision).

In no case do we urge you to refuse to take vitamin preparations, especially on your own, we just want to emphasize: nothing is as important for a baby as sufficient physical activity. And in this, swaddling is far from the best helper, because in "human" clothes the baby could move much more actively. In addition, swaddling with straightened legs is also harmful for the hip joints. For the correct development of the latter, a breeding state is required (look at how the newborn lies in a free state - his legs are divorced). In countries where swaddling has not been used for a long time and the divorced position of the legs has been adopted (in Africa, babies are tied with a handkerchief to the mother's back with divorced legs, in Asia they are worn "riding" on their side), adults are much less likely to have dysplasia (underdevelopment) of the hip joints. Meanwhile, it is known that the frequency of this pathology at birth is equal to its frequency in other countries. It's just that with the right position after birth, the joints can correctly "deform", that is, in fact, they recover.

3. The following statement by swaddling proponents: wrapped babies sleep better, wake themselves up with their arms and legs less, do not throw off the blanket. All this is fair. Indeed, the movements of children in the first one and a half to two months of life are not coordinated and spontaneous. It often happens that babies wake up from too intense movements of their own arms and legs beyond their control. What to do with it, if not to swaddle the baby?

First of all, you can put him to sleep on his stomach. Yes, don't be afraid. If even a decade ago the media unanimously trumpeted the danger of lying on the stomach due to the development of sudden infant death syndrome, in recent years it has been convincingly and reliably proven that the position of the body in itself does not in the least increase the risk of developing this terrible and tragic condition. It is not the position of the baby on the stomach that is dangerous, but the presence of pillows, soft feather beds, voluminous blankets and large soft toys in the crib - all that can cause suffocation in a dream. If the baby's crib has an orthopedic mattress (without a pillow) and a cotton or woolen blanket or blanket, there is no need to be afraid of the position on the stomach. Meanwhile, it is very useful for a little man for many reasons: digestion improves, gases are released more easily, which means that the likelihood of intestinal colic is reduced; the tone of the muscles of the back and neck is correctly formed, children begin to hold their heads earlier (and without harm to health); the danger of aspiration (inhalation) during regurgitation is significantly reduced, and the frequency of regurgitation itself is noticeably reduced, since the stomach begins to settle down more physiologically than in the supine position. Therefore, all doctors recommend specifically laying the baby on the stomach during the day while awake. If you begin to put him to sleep on his stomach, you will be deprived of the need to specifically allocate time for this. And finally, babies really don’t wake themselves up with arms and legs if they sleep on their stomachs and don’t throw off the covers. If for some reason your child is against sleeping on his stomach, you can use a special baby sleeping bag that will not allow him to open up in his sleep and get cold. By the way, baby mittens - "scratches" also help in many ways to solve the problem of frequent awakenings. Toddlers feel much calmer if you put them on the handles. In addition, they will not be able to scratch themselves during sleep and will not wake up from pain.

Although this does not apply to the topic of today's conversation, I would like to warn parents against laying the baby on its side. The fact is that the spine of the crumbs is not adapted to lateral loads, and a long position on the side can lead to orthopedic problems. For some reason, this is little covered in modern literature for parents, although convincing them of this real danger is much more important than the mythical danger of prone positioning. Until the baby learns to roll over from his back to his stomach and vice versa, you should not lay him on the barrel.

Sometimes the need for swaddling during sleep lies the increased excitability of a newborn or baby. If you see that the baby, in principle, falls asleep with difficulty, requires motion sickness, often wakes up, sometimes is naughty in the evening or during the night, you should contact a neurologist, since sleep disturbances can be an indicator (sometimes the most obvious or even the only one) of trouble on the part of central nervous system. If the turn of a planned visit to this doctor has come, be sure to tell him about the features of your baby's sleep. It is possible that this will be the reason for an additional examination of the baby. When a particular pathology is identified, the necessary treatment, as a rule, leads to improved sleep.

Freedom from ... diapers

Now that we have evaluated the arguments of the "side of the defense", we will share some more of our thoughts about swaddling.

• Dressing a baby in a jumpsuit or a set of blouses and panties will seem much easier to a young mother than swaddling a baby correctly (these seemingly helpless little ones actually unfold very quickly and ingeniously). Today, due to the advent of disposable diapers in our lives, there is no need to change underwear every hour, and children's things are most often tailored so that you don’t even have to undress the whole person - just unfasten a couple of buttons. Even the most timid young dad will be able to confidently thread the baby's arms into the sleeves, and the legs into the pants.
• In addition to sufficient freedom of movement, "real" clothing gives the baby a purely aesthetic superiority. Especially with the modern range of children's counters.
• Above, we talked about the benefits of sleeping on the stomach, meanwhile, it is impossible to put a swaddled baby to sleep on the stomach (when children sleep on their stomach, they do not lie flat on the mattress, but pull their knees under them, slightly raising their ass).
• If your child is "touchy", it is possible that it will be easier for you to perform many manipulations during his sleep (for example, cut his nails). If the baby is wrapped in diapers, you will lose "access to the body."

Some results

It seems to us that, by the totality of the arguments, a baby deserves a better fate than a tight bundle. Perhaps our opinion will seem unnecessarily categorical to you, then you can choose a compromise. For example, if your baby does not sleep well, he has been ruled out for a pathology of the nervous system (or he is receiving the necessary treatment, but a significant effect has not yet been achieved), you can swaddle him before going to bed, even over a suit (it is not necessary to use diapers - a blanket can also be convenient). ) or from time to time, when the baby is especially overexcited or feels bad.

In any case, today the world has abandoned tight swaddling. When it comes to swaddling (even while in the hospital), we mean free swaddling, when arms and legs are left with at least relative freedom of movement inside the bundle. To do this, during swaddling, the legs are not straightened, but left freely bent and divorced and not fixed tightly with a diaper.

If for some reason you stop at swaddling as the main way of "dressing" the baby, remember: you should not swaddle his legs after three months of life, and it is better to leave the arms free (this is what is called: swaddling without handles) already at the end of the first month. Otherwise, swaddling can significantly delay the proper physical development of your treasure.

Dorofei Apaeva
Pediatrician, Scientific Center for Children's Health, Moscow

Discussion

And I swaddle. More precisely, swaddled up to 2.5 months. Comfortable and all. They almost immediately stopped using diapers at night - it’s unpleasant to sleep wet, it hiccupped only before or during night feeding. True, everyone told me that I swaddled incorrectly - too weakly, I always pulled out my hands. His legs inside jerked calmly. Now the diaper is already on the bedding and sometimes when the sliders are all wet. Gets out of them once or twice. I will say a few words in defense of diapers - 1. Cheaper than diapers and sliders. 2. More comfortable than wearing sliders or a bodysuit (can you imagine how to take off a bodysuit if you poop over your head?) 3. The priest breathes. Especially in chinese diapers.
And in addition I will say: why limit yourself to only swaddling or only diapers, if it is more reasonable to use both? For example, in the morning, to get enough sleep and not change diapers every 5 minutes, use a diaper, also at night and for a walk? And the rest of the time diapers, sliders.

I do not swaddle, we are in sliders and blouses. Dakha was born big, so she crawled out of the diaper once or twice. And once my brother's wife came to visit and said that it was necessary to swaddle tightly. and showed how... well... I didn't say anything, but I don't want to mock my child like that. She told her little son that she was tightening it even more ... again, well ... I don’t know ... the lady woke herself up, of course, with her hands, but quickly fell asleep back. And she began to hold her head when she was 1 month and 10 days old.

interesnaya stranichka!ne znayu konechno kak postupat"!mama moya govorit chto pelenat"ne obyazatel"no.tak kak est" pampersy,uzhe nikto ne pelenaet detey,vse seychas namnogo proshe,nadel podgusnik,y cheres chasa 4 pomenyal!a to seliy den" begaesh,stiraesh,gladish eti pelenki,(a ix nado pomenyat" kak minimum 15 shtuk v DEN")uspet pokushat",privesti sebya v poriadok,POSPAT"!!!eto vse ne uspeesh,esli budesh pelenki menyat" kazhdye 2 chasa!tak vot moye mnenie!udachi!

ia ne pon "ala,kak v statiu o pelenanii,zatesalos" vegitarianstvo...tak mimohodom avtor,nichego ne znaia o voprose (esli bi znala,to tak bi ne viskazalas" "zubnoi r"ad","udaritsa v vegitarianstvo" ) proshlas" po ne malen "komu kol-vu vegitariancev i ih predstavleniah o zdorovom obraze jizni,deskat" oni ne v sinhrone s prirodoi i pridumali kakie-to mificheskie shlaki.i vse eto v stat "eo pelenkah.esli avtor schitaet vozmojnim rassujdat "na etu temu, to pust" hot "a bi pochitaet chto-nibud" pered etim, a to na "zubnoi r" ad "ssilatsa bol" shogo uma ne nado.

In general, as in all matters, how many people, so many opinions, the only thing that concerns children, I would rephrase - how many children, so many opinions. I swaddled my hands and tummy at night, because I slept better - I didn’t get scared in my sleep and my tummy twisted less. All sorts of suspensions there did little to help us. I completely agree with hipp that it is better to swaddle instead of drugs. Although my mother, and she is already 64 years old, insists that it is necessary to swaddle so that the legs are even ... I was not going to at all, but ...

Is it really better to poison a child with drugs so that he sleeps than just swaddle him to sleep? Everything should be within reason.

Some article is one-sided. All "for" immediately criticized.

More than one mother does not swaddle tightly (well, at least the one who has the Internet).

But children are all different. and look at the child. I was initially sure that I would not swaddle. But at first the child was frightened of the pens and cried, I had to swaddle. Then they swaddled at night, because. slept better swaddled. It was the arms that were swaddled, the legs were free.

Indeed, all children are different. The harm of tight swaddling is just as exaggerated as the benefits were exaggerated before. my son was always awake free - but when he got tired, he began to cry and only calmed down when he was swaddled - even before he fell asleep, he calmed down only because his naughty arms and legs were put to rest.
And I tied his hands in the “at attention” position for up to 8 months - otherwise, due to diathesis, he scratched himself into blood in a dream. And no vests with closed sleeves, no "mittens" did not save us. But we already had diathesis - it won’t seem enough, solid crusts all over the body ...

The eldest, when he was born, was very thin - he dangled in pants - therefore, until the fat was built up, he swaddled his legs with free swaddling (they taught him in the 13th hospital). I didn’t swaddle the little one, And for older months, from 4 to 8-9 months, I tightly wrapped my arms with a blanket - because I fell asleep in my arms when feeding, and when I put it in bed, I immediately woke up - it became cold for him, and “mother’s” hugs were lost, and it was comfortable in the blanket, in a dream he was already unfolding and then they covered him with a 2nd blanket. It can hardly be called swaddling.

And the sticks were tied so that the legs were straight.

In general, I think that swaddling, especially of the legs, is a mockery of the child. Especially the forced straightening of the legs and arms. The baby is in pain!!! He has limb tone - the flexor muscles are contracted, and the extensors are not yet developed. Forcibly straightening the legs and arms in my view is the same as putting an unprepared person on a twine. The best confirmation of this is the cry of a child! And then they really need the legs to be divorced, that is, there should be wide swaddling. The use of diapers, with any, contributes to this. I just don’t understand when mothers straighten and bring the legs together to a baby who has such a wide “design” between the legs. It's just impossible! I am for free swaddling, and in the maternity hospital we were taught this way, the arms were "swaddled" at the body in a bent form - if they really bother the child in a dream. And the legs are swaddled so that an envelope is obtained. As soon as I left the hospital, I didn’t swaddle even once and I don’t regret it. The child slept well. The bodysuits were with eversible "scratches". And from my friend, who had twins six months after us, I heard a terrible thing told to her by her mother-in-law (who was a supporter of tight swaddling): before, sticks were tied to the legs and arms, and then tightly swaddled ... I was shocked! !! And people who mutilate their own children, unfortunately, cannot be persuaded ...

I swaddled the first 2 weeks. Then we switched to overalls and romper suits. There were no problems with sleep.

Swaddle-not swaddle depends on the child.
The son was not swaddled at all, because. there was no need, he slept very soundly and almost all night in one position. However, he is still sleeping.

And the first nights were tormented with my daughter, she woke up constantly. Then I came up with the idea of ​​swaddling. Swaddled, got the first good night. Swaddled only at night for up to 2 months. Then somehow the swaddling came off not "no".

Nowadays more and more people are talking about the dangers of swaddling: it does not allow the child to develop harmoniously, limits the perception of the world, disrupts tactile functions, and inhibits individuality. Not surprisingly, many young parents initially refuse to swaddle babies, but come to him, exhausted by sleepless nights.

In Russia, from time immemorial, it was customary to swaddle newborns with the help of a swaddle (midwife or swaddling) - a strip of homespun fabric about 15 centimeters wide, decorated with patterns with crosses.

The development of touch.

The tactile function begins to manifest itself from three months of intrauterine development of children. By 4 months, coordination of head and hand movements appears, the baby finds his mouth with his hands and begins to suck on his fist or finger, which becomes a habit.

In the last weeks before birth, the baby's body increases significantly, the uterine embrace becomes tighter, the legs and arms are pressed tightly against the body, which also becomes intrauterine. Periodically contracting, the uterus gives tangible bodily impressions of tight hugs.

Before birth, the source of tactile sensations is the entire surface of the baby's skin in contact with the walls of the uterus.

The skin of infants is the most sensitive organ through which the baby receives 85% of all information about the world.

After birth, the sense of touch continues to develop due to information coming from outside through contact with his skin, especially with legs and arms. Everything serves as a source of tactile information: a diaper, clothes, the body of mom and dad, your body, and so on.

For the sense of touch to develop successfully, it is necessary that the legs and arms of the baby bump into various surfaces constantly, and not fly in the air uncontrollably. In this case, he does not have time to be frightened by the infinity of the surrounding space.

The correct approach to the development of the sense of touch of newborns:

• for the time of sleep we swaddle with a minimum of clothes under the diaper (handles will stumble not only on the diaper, but also feel your body),

• if the baby is in the arms of adults and warms them with warmth, clothes should also be as small as possible.

• Provide the baby with the opportunity to explore the world, let him touch everything that is safe. The more diverse the stimuli, the more actively the sense of touch develops.

Research has proven that the physical contact of the newborn with the parents is very important . A child who is given the opportunity to lie on his mother's (father's) stomach or chest feels better and quickly adapts to new living conditions. Stroke his body more often, gently massage his feet and hands.

Vests with sewn-in sleeves interfere with the development of the sense of touch. When the hands are closed for a long time, the baby is deprived of a variety of sensations: the ability to touch his body, surrounding objects, and his mother's breast while feeding.

Swaddling improves the quality of a newborn's sleep.

Our sleep consists of stages of light (REM) and deep (slow) sleep. During the transition from REM sleep to slow sleep, there is a change in nervous excitability. Our body trembles at the same time.

Babies have strong shudders., legs and arms are thrown up sharply. The baby gets scared and wakes up. And the whole point is the lack of inhibitory mechanisms of the nervous system. As they form (by about 30 days), the child's body will tremble less.

Swaddling helps the newborn learn in new conditions for him. The diaper keeps his legs and arms from throwing up.

In order for a child to develop actively, it is necessary:

• avoid fear, which hinders development on all fronts. Throwing legs and arms should be avoided. Swaddling will help with this.

• We create comfortable conditions close to intrauterine: posture (the legs are pulled up to the tummy, the arms are half-bent and not tightly pressed against the body), tightness (reasonably limit the space), body contact (we put it on our stomach).

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To swaddle or not to swaddle a newborn. Pros and cons of swaddling. Myths and reality. Types of swaddling. How to swaddle a newborn video. Modern Velcro diapers, cocoons and slips. Personal experience.

A few years ago, swaddling a baby was considered an obligatory ritual. A tight diaper became the baby's first clothes even in the maternity hospital. The timing of the use of diapers was not specified, but, as a rule, the baby “wore” them for the first six months of his life.

Modern views on swaddling are somewhat different from those that dominated earlier. Young parents prefer not to swaddle their newborns, but to buy them rompers, undershirts and blouses, explaining this choice by the fact that the child needs to move, and a tight diaper does not allow this. Who is right?

Benefits of diapers

Supporters of swaddling use the following arguments:

• swaddling helps the baby to maintain a comfortable body temperature, since the newborn baby does not have a thermoregulation system. Comfortable room temperature for a newborn is 25 degrees;
• The baby sleeps better in a diaper. Newborn children make chaotic movements with their hands in front of their faces, they are afraid of this, often wake up and act up;
• the baby in a diaper feels calmer. At the 9th month of pregnancy, there is very little space left in the uterus, the baby gets used to tightness, the diaper creates the very familiar “tightness”;
• convenience and economic benefit. Even in modern children's stores, it is sometimes difficult to find things for a newborn baby, and the diaper "adjusts" to any baby. Using diapers, the mother of a newborn makes her daily work easier (diapers absorb moisture better, they are easier to iron). A diaper is economical, because you do not need to spend money on numerous sliders, blouses.

Cons of swaddling

• overheating. Babies born in spring and summer get plenty of warmth and sunlight and don't need the extra "warmth" that a diaper provides. Using a diaper in the hot season, you can overheat the child;
• swaddling slows down blood circulation. Tight swaddling hinders the movement of the child, slowing down the natural process of blood circulation. In the future, this may affect the work of the vascular system. Perhaps many will remember the postulate that tight swaddling is simply necessary for the child to have even legs. Scientists have long proven that even legs are not the result of tight swaddling in infancy;
• developmental delay. Tight diapers hinder movement, slowing down physical activity.
• addictive. Over time, daily swaddling becomes so commonplace for a child that he cannot fall asleep, begins to worry without the usual “ritual”. Then parents have to literally wean the grown child from their favorite diaper;

Swaddling swaddling is different. Distinguish:

If there is a desire and opportunities, you can master each of the techniques and alternate them.

A diaper is such a familiar item of a child’s “clothing” that it is now impossible to remember the times when people did without this mandatory attribute. The use of diapers was most likely due to economic reasons. Parents were "bribed" by ease of use and uncomplicated design. That's the whole secret, fast, cheap and cheerful! If not in a diaper, then it is aired with a bare ass.

Over time, scientists started talking about the fact that the diaper constrains the baby, does not give him freedom of development. There was even an assumption that the diaper hinders the development of personality. A baby who was swaddled in childhood will allegedly grow up as a limited person, unable to express his opinion. Of course, such a statement could not go unnoticed by the parents. History proves otherwise. Previously, without exception, all children were swaddled, however, we have brilliant scientists and writers. Leo Tolstoy, who himself was a supporter of upbringing without diapers, was also swaddled in childhood, which did not prevent his talent from manifesting itself.

Entrepreneurs immediately picked up this idea and began to produce "useful" diapers, cocoons, sleeping bags.

I swaddled Maksimka only in the maternity hospital, at home somehow this topic did not go with us. Firstly, in a few minutes he managed to pull his hands out of the tightest swaddling and often they were in an unnatural position. Secondly, I was afraid to leave him swaddled to sleep, it seemed to me that it was difficult for him to breathe, and if he somehow rolled over in a wrong way, he would not be able to go back. These are rather my phobias, I do not like cramped spaces. Thirdly, I did not notice any difference between sleeping in a diaper and without it. We were very rescued by slips with closed legs and handles, so as not to scratch ourselves. Hands pulled, but did not wake up from it.

The baby's spine is formed by the letter "C", which is why babies tend to take the embryo position, quickly calm down and fall asleep in a sling, in their mother's arms, on their side, on their stomach in a frog pose, constantly trying to rest their head somewhere. I believe that immediately after birth, the child needs to recreate the conditions as they were in the stomach, then the dream will be sweet and the mother will be calm. If there is a financial opportunity for the first 4-5 months, you can buy Coconababy. Then arrange safe! (without a bunch of pillows, bumpers and blankets), but a cozy bed.

Swaddling does not affect the development of the child's personality. Harm can be caused by pulling the baby's body too tight, as it makes breathing and blood circulation difficult. Otherwise, the decision of this issue - to swaddle or not to swaddle a newborn, remains with the parents.

An interesting thing is swaddling, because until recently, all kinds of pieces of fabric, called diapers, were almost the only baby's wardrobe in the first months of life. And for hundreds, and maybe thousands of years, mankind has not come up with anything better than wrapping a newborn tightly in a piece of textile. Remember yourself (although this is unlikely), ask your mother, look at children's photos - it is unlikely that your parents did not swaddle you, in Soviet times this was a mandatory measure.

Now the situation is better and simpler, fortunately for our contemporaries, and swaddling honorably faded into the background. Some even consider it a relic of the past and flatly refuse to buy diapers, preferring tiny children's suits. But is swaddling a newborn baby today really just a tribute to tradition that does not carry any meaning? But what about our predecessors, did they really swaddle their children out of hopelessness, did no one guess to sew pants and a blouse? No, it's not that simple, and let's find out why.

Baby in a cocoon - everyone is happy!

To be honest, such a ritual as swaddling has a deep meaning. If you think logically, it is not difficult to guess that for many years children have been wrapped in cloth to keep warm, ensure immobility and ease of manipulation with them, for example, when feeding.

Newborn babies are still imperfect and are, one might say, in an intermediate state between a warm mother's tummy and a large open world, they are still adapting, and their body is "tuning" to a new stage. Accordingly, the expanse of the world in which the little one found himself is somewhat frightening, because it was much cozier and more comfortable in a warm, albeit cramped, mother's tummy. The thermoregulation of a newborn baby can also “falter”, therefore, wrapping the baby in a diaper, the mother not only creates some “intimacy” for him, imitating the womb, but also helps the body to keep warm.

Swaddling in some way solves the problem with involuntary movements of the baby's limbs due to physiological muscle hypertonicity. This condition usually disappears by 8-10 weeks of age, and sharp uncontrolled swings of the arms and legs are gradually replaced by measured movements. So, it often happens that a young mother loses all peace and is exhausted, remaining exhausted by morning due to her child’s poor sleep. And the child did not sleep well because the little naughty hands twitched and frightened him. The experience of our mothers and grandmothers clearly proves that babies sleep better in a diaper, without distracting themselves with their own uncontrolled twitches.

Well, it is much easier for inexperienced young parents to deal with the fruit of their love if it is carefully wrapped in a diaper, without waving its legs and arms. You can put an end to it with a weighty argument, saying that swaddling is simple, cheap and cheerful. A piece of chintz or flannel costs an order of magnitude cheaper than clothes for newborns, it is easier to remove / put on it and there are no problems in washing.

Swaddling at night

It is unlikely that someone already swaddles the baby all the time, completely abandoning these delightful clothes. This trend continues only in the maternity hospital, when there may be no other options, and the medical staff will be able to manage a bunch of kids faster if they look like little caterpillars. By the way, in modern maternity hospitals, the use of clothes for a baby brought by a young mother is not forbidden at all. A woman can both swaddle a child “in the old fashioned way”, and dress him up in more comfortable clothes for both him and her. If desired, nurses teach primiparous women the skill of skillful swaddling, so much so that no Google will teach better.

But this is a small digression. Most of all, mothers are interested in whether it is necessary to swaddle a child at night, because, as already mentioned, children sleep better at night in a diaper. But not all and not always. Indeed, most modern parents prefer not to use swaddling all the time, giving the baby complete freedom of movement during the day, and swaddling him only at night for the greater good. It would seem that everyone immediately feels good: the newly-made parents get more or less enough sleep, just like the little one.

But here you need to look at the situation, focus on the baby. It happens that some children do not really like the restriction of movements from birth and surprisingly free themselves from chintz fetters by fiddling with their hands. In this case, swaddling is unlikely to be appropriate. Choosing the most optimal option, you can try, in addition to the classic diaper, modern “cocoons” with Velcro and zippers.

Someone will like a sleeping bag, and someone will feel comfortable in the so-called sleepsuits with closed legs and sometimes even mittens. In extreme cases, you can put the baby to sleep on the tummy. There is nothing to worry about, unless you put 10 soft feather beds in the child's bed, as in that fairy tale. Lying on his stomach, the child will not suffocate if he sleeps on a hard, even surface without pillows, does not scratch or disturb himself with a pen. Yes, and colic, they say, is less of a concern.

But in most cases, night swaddling makes life much easier for parents, giving a calm and sometimes even very long sleep, and comfort, peace and emotional stability for the newborn. By the way, many newborn babies stop crying and calm down if they are swaddled and cuddled. This is so useful advice from life.

But if a young mother is still waiting for discharge from the postpartum department with a happy envelope in her hands, she may doubt the need for nightly swaddling in the maternity hospital. It happens that the neighbors in the ward will dress up their babies in pretty suits, casually pushing the state-owned diapers to the far corner. And the kids seem to sleep well. Or maybe you don’t need to wrap it in a diaper, as if in Soviet times ... I will say one thing, is it necessary to swaddle a child at night in a maternity hospital - a rather rhetorical question. As a last resort, if you doubt the appropriateness of this procedure, consult with the medical staff.

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Harmful diapers

Surely you have heard that swaddling is harmful and even traumatic in physical and psychological terms. Unfortunately, such rumors are not unfounded. Improper swaddling can really harm the baby, namely:

• disrupts blood circulation;

• makes it difficult to breathe;

• completely paralyzes movement, making it impossible to move;

• can provoke dislocation;

• leads to diaper rash;

• the likelihood of overheating;

• leads to stress and makes it impossible to explore the world.

But it is worth correcting that the above phenomena are true for the so-called tight swaddling, widely used in Soviet times. Remember those photographs or clippings from the news, where the little ones, like soldiers, lay on the line with legs and arms tightly wrapped in fabric? What was left for them? Only cry. And earlier it was considered an effective prevention of rickets and a happy ticket to slender model legs. As it turned out, all this is nonsense, and modern neonatologists and pediatricians as one recognize tight swaddling as inappropriate and traumatic. From a personal example: I know one case 50 years ago, when one Soviet woman regularly swaddled her child right up to 9 months! It's absurd, but it used to be the norm.

Yes, and a modern range of clothes and accessories for babies allows you to purchase an excellent alternative to diapers. What are some diapers worth, which make life so much easier for mom, eliminating endless washes. Why then all these endless and ever-drying pieces of rags? For many parents with such a wide range of products for newborns, the question "to swaddle or not to swaddle a newborn" is no longer a question.

How to be?

And yet, what to do in such a situation? If swaddling is so helpful in some moments, but so harmful, is it possible to find a good alternative? In secret, on one tight method of swaddling with a wedge, the light did not converge. Now, including in modern maternity hospitals, variants of the so-called free swaddling are practiced. At first, the child is swaddled entirely, leaving only the head uncovered, so that the arms are tightly pressed to the body, and the legs flounder freely in a small bag of cloth.

A little older baby will feel comfortable already with free arms, while the legs are swaddled in a similar way, forming a pouch. This method does not cause deformities of the limbs or any discomfort in the baby and is used by modern parents along with ordinary children's clothes.

Be that as it may, to swaddle or not a newborn baby - you decide and only. More specifically, your baby. If he feels calm and comfortable in a diaper, then why not. If vehemently resists, then why spoil the lives of both. But if you still decide "the old fashioned way", then you should not get carried away, swaddling makes sense only up to 2-3 months of the baby's life.