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No Comments [ Add Comment ]Wrapping up baby
By KAREN ANNE WEBBSomething to be said for swaddling
In the Nativity story, the shepherds were directed to find the baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.
But what the heck is swaddling?
Basically, it's a way of wrapping a baby tightly so she experiences the same sense of confinement found in the womb in the last months of pregnancy.
"There are some researchers now who say babies are really born too soon," says Springville's Jami Kent, developer of the Burrito Swaddler blanket and owner of B.B. Sleep Solutions. "Unlike, say, a baby horse, they're entirely dependent on their caregivers. They want to be back in the womb."
In 1992, the American Academy of Pediatrics began recommending that infants be put to sleep on their backs to limit the possibility of succumbing to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
The problem? Parents were finding that babies don't sleep so well on their backs.
"But if they're swaddled," says Kent, "so they have that sense of being in the womb, they'll sleep just fine."
A second problem is that, if you've ever tried to swaddle an infant with a standard baby blanket, you might as well be trying to herd cats.
Kent has a solution that includes not only a better-built mousetrap -- the Burrito Swaddler -- but an entire sleep system that gives caregivers a primer for getting their young babies to go to sleep and stay asleep.
Volumes of Internet and book research told Kent that everyone had a piece of the puzzle, but no one had put the pieces together in a workable model. And infant sleep is not typically addressed in depth in prenatal classes.
"We've realized that babies need to eat when they need to eat, and we adapt to that," says Kent, "but we still will delay having them sleep if we're shopping or eating."
The Brigham Young University graduate used her educational background to develop a curriculum as well as an oversized, dual-layer, easy-to-use swaddling blanket. She launched in June 2006 with "sleep parties."
She says she has parent-education programs as far away as California and Nebraska using her materials.
The method
Here are the four basic elements of her program:
Burrito: Swaddle the baby snugly
Tummy-to-tummy: Hold the infant facing you with her head on your shoulder
Bounce (or swing or rock): Usually, an infant will show a preference for one particular motion
White noise: Make a sustained "Shhhhh" or whooshing sound loud enough for baby to hear
Additionally, Kent points out, you should not let the infant go until she falls asleep.
"Babies should not stay awake for more than two hours at a time," she says, "although each will give 'tired signals' at her optimum time to fall asleep."
In addition to the Burrito, her company handles several support products made by other companies, including Gripe Water for colic and a white-noise maker. The blanket and how-to DVD cost $29.95.
"Our objective is to create independent sleepers," says Kent.
Kent believes her program has a 100 percent success rate based on a money-back guarantee that no one has taken advantage of.
McKay programs
This will be put to the test locally as the childbirth educators at McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden begin to incorporate Kent's information into two of its childbirth preparation classes.
"We went to one of Jami's presentations," says childbirth education coordinator Becky Roundy, "and we found it very exciting. We all looked at each other like 'we have failed' when we heard the information she included.
"I felt Jami had great information and great resources.
"I've worked NICU (the Newborn Intensive Care Unit) for 20 years, and we've often referred to swaddling as 'burritoing' the babies, and they do find it comforting. But Jami's information takes it all a step further."
The company's Web site is www.bbsleepsolutions.com.
STUDY: BABIES SLEEP BETTER WHEN SWADDLED
The most recent study on swaddling, reported in Pediatrics, came from Belgium in 2005, according to London Draper, assistant professor of nursing at Weber State University.
"The researchers did a lot of monitoring with electronic equipment, so these were not subjective findings," she said. "Though small, the study did suggest that babies sleep better while swaddled."
Research from Washington University in 2002, primarily concerned with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, concluded that, to get infants to sleep in the safer supine position, swaddling was a useful practice.
Renée Rogerson, the developmental specialist for the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at McKay-Dee Hospital, says the practice works for pre-term infants who may have multiple tubes and monitors hooked up to them.
"When we can't swaddle," she says, "we try to create that sense of good positioning with boundaries, surrounding the infants on as many sides as possible.
"The swaddling especially seems to help with muscle tone development, especially of the flexion muscles."
Draper, who specializes in women's health and the child-bearing family, and who also works labor and delivery at McKay-Dee, says that there may be instances in which a medical condition like cystic fibrosis would make swaddling inadvisable, but that can be talked over with the infant's pediatrician.
"With practice," she says, "a parent can learn to swaddle with an ordinary receiving blanket.
"But, in terms of the number of 'swaddle blankets' being marketed currently, I have to say we're blessed to live in a country where dedicated people spend time developing products to make our lives easier."
-- Karen Anne Webb
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