Swaddling Your Newborn: Benefits, Safety Tips, and When to Stop

Updated: March 2025 (Originally published: November 1, 2017)

Swaddling has been a traditional practice for centuries, but in recent years, some paediatricians have advised against wrapping babies in receiving blankets or swaddles after birth. Having had four babies myself, I found wrapping them in a blanket to be a comforting and effective way to help them feel secure and sleep better.

Babies spend nine long months in the womb, where it is warm, safe, and cozy in a small, snug, dark space. Their arms and legs are close to their bodies all the time in the womb. Therefore, it makes sense that swaddling your newborn for their first few weeks will help mimic the tight confines of the womb and make them feel more comfortable.

What is Swaddling?

The Collins Dictionary defines swaddling as:

If you swaddle a baby, you wrap cloth around it in order to keep it warm or to prevent it from moving.

On the BabyCenter website, there is a very good article on swaddling and how to prevent hip dysplasia by swaddling correctly: Swaddling Your Baby

The Benefits of Swaddling

Swaddling is the art of snugly wrapping a baby in a blanket for warmth and security. It can keep your baby from being disturbed by their own startle reflex and help them stay warm and toasty for the first few days of life until their internal thermostat kicks in. It may even help to calm your baby.

These days, you probably won’t leave the hospital without a little lesson in this technique. Cocooning babies in a blanket, can be used to help settle them when they’re overstimulated or when they just need to feel something similar to the tightness and security of the womb.

Important Swaddling Safety Tips

If you choose to swaddle, be sure you know how to do it correctly. Improper swaddling, such as tightly wrapping your baby’s legs straight down, may loosen the joints and damage the soft cartilage of the hip sockets, leading to hip dysplasia.

To prevent hip dysplasia when you swaddle:

• Make sure there’s enough room at the bottom of the blanket so that your baby can bend their legs up and out from their body.
• Always lay your swaddled baby down on their back rather than their stomach to decrease the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
• Avoid wrapping your baby too tightly, as it can cause circulation problems or overheating.
• Once your baby is about a month old, you might want to stop swaddling them while they’re awake, as it can interfere with mobility and development in older babies.
• The American Academy of Paediatrics recommends stopping swaddling at 2 months old—before babies start trying to roll over.

Learn More

For a detailed guide on how to swaddle correctly, including a step-by-step video, check out this BabyCenter article.

Swaddling can be a helpful tool for newborns, but it’s important to do it safely and to stop at the right time.

👉 Looking for more parenting tips? Check out our article on Coping as a Parent.

Do you swaddle your baby? Let us know what you think about it in the comments section below!