Baby Burrito

Here's a series of photos I took while Samantha was swaddled. She totally looked like a burrito....aaay caramba!

Babies love being swaddled (at least most of the time), and this study from the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics demonstrate that; click here for the article.

Study discussion excerpt:

"The study showed that, when infants between 6 and 16 weeks of age sleep swaddled and supine, they sleep longer, spend more time in NREM sleep, and awake less spontaneously than when not swaddled. These findings are reminiscent of previous reports of an increase in sleep continuity among swaddled infants. These observations have been attributed to the motor restraint imposed by swaddling. This motor restriction could reduce the proprioceptive stimulation to the reticular activating system and hence the frequency of spontaneous behavioral arousals"

While a swaddled baby would eventually love the "restrained" feeling, it is sometimes a battle to get these little ones to stay still in order to get that swaddle on. In fact, Kristen would do "Houdini's" and escape from swaddles however tight they are applied.

Here's a interesting "How to video". I'm not sure how they got that baby to stay still but it looks like they gave him some sedatives :)