Swaddling your baby

Whilst letting your baby play naked and free can be great after a warming bath or during a baby massage session, swaddling a small child is comforting and enveloping.

Swaddling your baby

• Lay down a blanket and fold in one corner. Lay your baby on the blanket with his head above where the folded down corner would have been if is was unfolded.

• Bring the corner on your right over your baby and tuck it underneath your baby’s body.

• Bring the bottom corner up over your baby’s feet without pulling his legs up with it, and tuck the tip of the corner into the top of the already folder part of the blanket.

• Bring the remaining open side across your baby’s body and wrap it underneath him.

• His head should be completely free above the now snugly wrapped blanket.

Babywearing

You can buy baby shawls which allow you to wrap your baby around your body so you can carry him around with you as you sing him off to sleep or so that you can keep him close to you while you do your household chores.  Alternatively, use a baby carrier or sling to keep your baby with you as you move around your home. Despite some people’s fears that such closeness will make a baby more clingy, the opposite appears to be the case – a baby who is cuddled and reassured more as a newborn is less likely to crave attention later as they will be confident that a loving touch is never too far away.