Swaddling by itself may not halt crying, rather it prepares babies for the other “S’s” that do switch crying off
The reasons our ancestors stopped swaddling centuries ago
Six unnecessary concerns today’s parents have about swaddling
The perfect baby swaddle: The DUDU wrap
As my office was about to close one evening, Alex’s mother called, in tears. Betsy said Alex had been having bouts of pain for more than two weeks. Here’s how Betsy described it.
“When Alex was six weeks old, she began having terrible gas pains. At night she would wake up screaming almost hourly. I watched my diet, in case something I was eating was giving her gas. But that didn’t alleviate her crying at all.”
Betsy asked me for some anti-gas medicine to help Alex with what she assumed were stomach cramps. She was surprised when I focused on how to calm her rather than curing the gas. I taught Betsy about the calming reflex and showed her how to swaddle, shhhh, and swing Alex to help her fall asleep. But, Betsy remained skeptical.
“I didn’t use Dr. Karp’s technique the first night. Swaddling Alex tight didn’t feel natural. I was afraid she would be uncomfortable or have difficulty breathing. And I still believed the main issue was gas. That night Alex’s ‘pain’ seemed severe, and I decided I would follow Dr. Karp’s advice in the morning.
“The next day I swaddled Alex from morning till night, and surprisingly she seemed much more comfortable. At bedtime, even before I had finished wrapping her, Alex fell asleep—and she slept for seven hours. I could hear her stomach rumbling and knew that she was still having gas, but it was no longer waking her up.
“Tight bundling helped Alex become a much better sleeper. By the time she was four months old she slept well without needing any swaddling.”