Swaddling
Swaddling is an ancient practice of wrapping infants in blankets or similar cloths so that movement of the limbs is tightly restricted.
[4][5][6] The earliest depictions of swaddled babies are votive offerings and grave goods from Crete and Cyprus, 4000 to 4500 years old.
Votive statuettes have been found in the tombs of Ancient Greek and Roman women who died in childbirth, displaying babies in swaddling clothes.
[7] Probably the most famous record of swaddling is found in the New Testament concerning the birth of Jesus in Luke 2:6–2:7: And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
After an infant was born, the umbilical cord was cut and tied, and then the baby was washed, rubbed with salt and oil, and wrapped with strips of cloth.
[12] More than a hundred years after Würtz, physicians and philosophers from England began to openly criticize swaddling and finally demanded its complete abolishment.
The British philosopher John Locke (1632–1704) rejected swaddling in his 1693 publication Some Thoughts Concerning Education, becoming a lobbyist for not binding babies at all.
In his "Essay upon Nursing" of 1748, he expressed his view of contemporary child care, swaddling, the topic of too much clothing for infants and overfeeding.
He wrote: But besides the Mischief arising from the Weight and Heat of these Swaddling-cloaths, they are put on so tight, and the Child is so cramp'd by them, that its Bowels have not room, nor the Limbs any Liberty, to act and exert themselves in the free easy Manner they ought.
It is wrapped in swaddling bands, laid down with its head fixed, its legs stretched out, and its arms by its sides; it is wound round with linen and bandages of all sorts so that it cannot move […].
It is claimed that infants left free would assume faulty positions and make movements which might injure the proper development of their limbs.
Out of the multitude of children who grow up with the full use of their limbs among nations wiser than ourselves, you never find one who hurts himself or maims himself; their movements are too feeble to be dangerous, and when they assume an injurious position, pain warns them to change it.
Modern swaddling is becoming increasingly popular today as a means of settling and soothing irritable infants and helping babies sleep longer with fewer awakenings.
[1] Loose and ineffective swaddling techniques made while using an undersized blanket can generally be kicked off by a wakeful baby.
It is important for caregivers to accomplish a secure swaddle to ensure the blanket does not become loose and the baby remains wrapped during the sleep period.
[19] According to the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF), 39% of all documented contemporary non-industrialized cultures show swaddling practices; further 19% use other methods of movement restriction for infants.
Swaddling as a medical intervention with a clearly limited indication range is used in the care practices of premature babies.
The research group around the Dutch biologist van Sleuwen in 2007 confirms this picture in their latest meta-analysis of medical studies on swaddling and its effects.
[32] Two studies based on indigenous peoples of the Americas did not show a delay in the onset of walking caused by the restraint of the use of the cradleboard.
[37] A 2016 review found tentative evidence that swaddling increases risk of SIDS, especially among babies placed on their stomachs or side while sleeping.
