Until when can you swaddle a baby?

Most parents stop swaddling because they think their baby doesn't need it anymore. That's not the reason it has to stop: from a certain moment, sleeping swaddled becomes dangerous.

Why it helps at first

In the first three months the Moro reflex, also called the startle reflex, is strongly present. Your baby wakes with a start from an unexpected sound, or from being put down too fast. The arms shoot up and sleep is gone, while nothing was wrong.

Swaddling holds that movement back. Arms and legs can move less, so your baby doesn't wake themselves. It mainly helps against crying, and by lying more still, your baby sleeps longer in a row.

Swaddling is the first of Dr. Harvey Karp's five soothing methods, the five S's: swaddling, side position, shushing, swinging and sucking. It's a tool, not a requirement.

The limit: at the first signs of rolling

This isn't a guideline you can stretch at your own discretion. A baby who rolls needs their arms to turn back. Swaddled, that isn't possible, and then your baby is stuck on their tummy with no way back.

How to help your baby practice that movement, and why it makes nights calmer, is in rolling and sleep.

Three things to watch while you do swaddle

• Never on the tummy. A swaddled baby on their tummy risks suffocation.
• Prevent overheating. Look carefully at what's on under the swaddle. If it's warm, use a fan if needed and check the temperature.
• Stop at rolling. See above.

Not every baby likes it

This is rarely said honestly: swaddling doesn't work for everyone. Kyra's second daughter Celeste wanted nothing to do with it. The first two or three weeks it still went, after that it only made her angry, and then it stopped.

Some babies need to get used to it and then give in after all. But if you've calmly tried it a few times and it only brings anger, this isn't your method. That's no failure. There are four other S's, and the idea behind that toolkit is precisely that your baby doesn't depend on one way to calm down. Then your partner can do it too, and the babysitter.

What you do instead

Side position helps mainly with cramps in the first months: on the left side against reflux, with a little pressure on the tummy. Shushing with white noise imitates the sounds of the womb and also works as a fixed start signal for your bedtime routine. Swinging can be done in the carrier, in your arms or in the stroller. And sucking, with a pacifier, is a natural way to self-regulate.

What else is or isn't right in the bedroom, from the sleep sack after swaddling to the temperature, is in how to set up the nursery.