Many parents swear by swaddling because it can help soothe newborns and make them stop crying.
Swaddling infants may also reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) because it encourages parents to lay their babies on their backs to sleep.
But now, there's a growing trend in hospital nurseries around the country to revamp the way they wrap babies up, as nurses try to better illustrate the safest sleep environments possible for babies.
Swaddling is like baby origami with its tight folds and tucks. It can help sooth fussy babies and hospital nurses have the technique down pat. But new parents sometimes can't quite get the hang of it.
"You have all these blankets and you're trying to get them folded correctly and it ends up around their face," said Lauren Davis, a mother.
Loose blankets can be a suffocation risk if babies wiggle out of a swaddle that's done incorrectly. So now, more than 700 hospitals nationwide have ditched the typical swaddle in favor of Sleep Sacks. They're wearable blankets that put babies in a cocoon-like cuddle, but easily zip up without covering the baby's face.
"It's just an easier way to swaddle," said Bill Schmid, founder of Halo Innovations, the company that makes Sleep Sacks.
Schmid says giving new parents proper visuals of a safe swaddle and crib is important when they're exhausted and overloaded with information on how to care for a new baby.
"They may hear something and they don't remember it, but they tend to remember what they see, which is why it's so critically important for hospitals to be modeling what they're preaching," Schmid said.
The newborn nurses at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland took it a step further, ridding their cribs of everything that could possibly pose a suffocation risk, including Vaseline tubes, diapers and blankets.
"You want the baby to sleep in an environment that has literally nothing but the baby swaddled in a sleep sack and a bare naked crib," said Debbie Smith, a registered nurse at UH Case Medical Center.
University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland and other hospitals that participate in the Halo SleepSack Program allow their new parents to take Sleep Sacks home with them.
Do you swaddle your babies? Do you find it difficult? Have you ever tried the Sleep Sack? Do you think they're a better option for parents? Should all hospitals start using them? Leave your thoughts below.
