• Swaddling a baby decreases the baby’s startle reflex. When babies are first born, they tend to get startled for no reason. It is just a way their bodies react to this new world. Every newborn is born with it and it goes away between two and four months of age. Unfortunately, this reaction tends to wake them up a lot during the night. By swaddling babies, you keep their bodies tight and prevent them from moving their bodies easily keeping them asleep.
• Swaddling helps babies sleep for longer times. This in return help you sleep for a longer time. Just make sure to wake up your baby every 3 hours for feeding if they are young.
• Swaddling keeps babies from moving which can cause them to come into contact with a choking hazard like a loose sheet, a pillow, or a blanket. Please, remember that infants under one year old should not have any loose materials or objects in the crib. No blanket or pillow should be placed in the crib and the sheets should be tight.
• Swaddling also keeps them warm and comfy. It is hard for them to transition from the warm uterus to this new environment. So, swaddling reminds them of the womb, aka their previous home. It is also hard for them to regulate their temperature. So, the swaddle will help them get warm and not realease to much of that warmth. 
• Finally, swaddling can help calm a baby down especially if the baby has colic. A baby has colic with they cry for no known reason for at least 3 consecutive hours daily.
• It decreases Sudden Infant Death. There are research that suggest that swaddling a baby and placing him on his back while sleeping helps reduce the likelihood of sudden infant death. 
• You can also swaddle a baby when breastfeeding because babies tend to get their hands in the way. When their hands are not a problem anymore, babies can focus and latch on easier. 

When to swaddle a baby?

Many parents ask this question continuously. You should start swaddling from day one when your child is first born. Your child will love it and remember for the reasons above, it will be good for your baby.

When should you stop swaddling? Great question! You should some swaddling your baby when he/she begins to become more mobile and try to roll. Usually, this increase in mobility occurs around two months of age. This is when I recommend ditching the swaddle, but you can keep the baby swaddled to three or four months old. That is because that is the age when a child is actually able to roll over. Once your baby can roll over, ditch the swaddle because once they can roll over they may land on their tummy and suffocate. It is very dangerous to keep them swaddled at this time and that is why most parents swaddle the child right before they reach that milestone.

There are three signs you can use to help you decide whether you should stop swaddling or not. 

• When the startle relex disappears, you may unswaddle your baby.
• When the baby rolls over or tries to roll over, unswaddle your baby.
• If your baby tries to fight off the swaddle or gets out of the swaddle, you may begin to unswaddle. But, remember when your baby is still a newborn, she may resist the swaddle because it is a new thing. That is normal and should not be taken as a sign to unswaddle baby. Just keep swaddlign and the baby will get used to it.

There is only one risk to swaddling. That is if you tighten the swaddle too much, the baby may not grow properly. So, do not tighten it too much. 

1. Place down the blanket. Make sure it is spread out. It should be completely flat on the surface showing all 4 corners. 
2. Fold one corner and place the baby’s head over the folded corner. 
3.  Place the baby’s right arm flat down next to his body, and wrap the right side of the blanket over his arm and body. Tuck the end of the right side of blanket underneath him.
4. Take the bottom side of the blanket and bring it up over his feet. 
5. Wrap the left side of the blanket over his body with his left arm flat right next to him, and then tuck it under his body. 

Again, there are different ways to swaddle a baby, but this is the most common one. So, now you are probably thinking you know how to swaddle your baby. You are probably going to have so many problems doing it. Your baby might be able to break through it. You will probably watch a thousand videos about it. But, trust me