Almost every new mother, especially if the first-born is born, asks the question - how to swaddle a newborn baby. This simple task should be taught by a nurse in the maternity hospital. But if this did not happen, or the knowledge was forgotten a little, then this article is for you. (At the end of the article, a selection of video instructions)
Before you begin swaddling (see the article FOR and AGAINST swaddling), you must ensure that you use clean, washed and ironed diapers. Some unscrupulous mothers continue to use the diaper after the baby urinates on it. Do not do this! Such an irresponsible attitude towards the child threatens the appearance of dermatitis and diaper rashthat cause the baby suffering and considerable discomfort.
You need to iron the diaper on both sides. Well, if you have a steamer - you will save time, and the diaper will be soft, pleasant to touch the baby. If there is no steamer, then when ironing with an ordinary iron, spray the diaper with water so that it does not become overdried and stiff.
We also read: How long do you need to iron clothes (diapers) for a newborn? And do I need to iron them?
You can swaddle a child wherever you are comfortable - on a changing table, on a sofa, in a bed.
Remember - in no case leave the child on the changing table alone, even for a minute - he can turn, fall from a height and damage himself. Be carefull. If you urgently need to move to another room, do not be too lazy to put the baby in the crib.
So, how to swaddle a newborn baby.
Swaddling
First of all, make sure that the baby is clean, if necessary, wash the baby and put a clean diaper on it. If you do not use disposable diapers, then you can make diapers out of gauze and put them under the baby’s ass. In this case, the diapers will be more often contaminated, so purchase them in advance in an amount of at least 20 pieces.
If the cold season and the room is cool - prepare two diapers for swaddling at once.
We begin swaddling itself. Spread the diaper on the surface of the changing table or bed. Carefully place the baby in the center of the diaper, the baby's head should be above the edge of the diaper. Press the baby's right handle to the calf, wrap the right diaper angle obliquely. The edge of the diaper should go behind the back of the baby. Then we press the left handle, similarly wrap the left edge of the diaper. We have a “tail” below. We also turn the edges one by one under the baby and fix in the resulting side pocket. All!
If it’s cold, then the baby wrapped in one diaper, according to the above principle, wrap in a second diaper, the only difference is that the baby’s arms are already hidden and do not need to be pressed.
In the hot season, the baby can be swaddled with open handles, a method of free swaddling. In this case, the baby's handles should be above the edge of the diaper, and the wrapping of the edges occurs according to the same principle as simple swaddling.
A baby wrapped in a diaper should feel comfortable. If he is clearly unhappy, and even when wearing on your hands you cannot calm him down, check to see if the folds on the diaper interfere with him, or if you swaddled him too closely.
You can adapt to swaddle your child for a couple of times of training, then the process will turn out on your “machine”. The main thing is to be confident in your abilities, and success will not be long in coming!
We also read:
How to wean a baby from swaddling
When is the best time to stop swaddling your baby and whether you need to rock it
By the way, for mummies (and daddies) who do not know how to swaddle at all, there are special swaddling envelopes for Summer infant swaddleme, here we wrote a short review of envelopes – https://kid.htgetrid.com/en/veshhi-dlya-malyisha/konvertyi-dlya-pelenaniya-summer-infant-swaddleme-sammer-infant-udobnoe-pelenanie.html
Well, look at the video clip what kind of envelopes are these:
Video instructions - learn to swaddle correctly
A bit of humor - swaddling Batman style 🙂
I would have this article in due time ... When I was discharged from the hospital, they did not teach me how to swaddle a newborn. For me it was something! And here everything is clearly and consistently indicated how to properly swaddle the baby without harming him. Yes, and even the drawings are well-chosen.
Now you can meet many conflicting opinions about whether it is worth swaddling a child. With a creak in my heart, I swaddled my daughter and saw how she did not like it. I had enough for 1 month. Then it was already swaddled as necessary, if, for example, the daughter could not calm down and fall asleep.
And as for the maternity hospital, Veronika wrote correctly, no one explains anything in the maternity hospital, and if you ask, they try to get rid of the annoying “mother” faster.