Baby Warning Swaddling babies can cause hip damage

Orthopedist advises against close wrapping of the child
Swaddling is a time-tested method of wrapping to calm babies and make them fall asleep in a gentle way. But there are also critical voices. For example, as an orthopedist explains to the German Press Agency, wrapping leads to an increased risk of hip deformity.

Tightness should calm children
The so-called "swaddling" is a traditional wrapping technique for babies, where they are wrapped up to the neck in a cloth, sheets or a special puck bag. Proponents assume that the child experiences the security through the narrowness that it knows from the mother's belly. By winding the typical uncontrolled twitching ("Moro-reflex") is prevented, which quickly tear the baby out of sleep.

Many parents spit on their children to give them a comfortable feeling and to calm them down. However, a paediatrician warns of possible damage from wrapping. (Image: StefanieB./fotolia.com)

Winding technology can have a negative impact on the hips
However, the pediatric orthopedist Tamara Seidl warns of possible damage due to the special winding technique. Because this forces would affect the hip and limit their natural growth, so the expert in conversation with the "dpa". As a result, the joint does not mature normally, which in the absence of treatment may lead to a later limp in the child.

As the expert explained, midwives have recently recommended the method again to a greater extent, whereas doctors have largely bypassed the "trend". "We now have a good deal of good literature that shows that swaddling is a problem," said the expert of the German Society for Ultrasound in Medicine (Degum). However, data from Germany would not be available so far. In East Germany, for example, spreader pants were previously used to prevent hip problems - a measure that Seidl's view was unobjectionable.

Music calms crying children especially well
As an alternative to the swaddling, there are a variety of other proven methods to calm a baby and gently to sleep. Often it helps when the restless child is taken in the arms and gently rocked back and forth. Likewise, careful stroking, cuddling or a pacifier can work wonders. Many parents also go for a walk with the stroller or carry the child in a cloth or bag in front of his stomach. Screaming babies calms singing best, researchers from the University of Montreal recently found. Thus, a study had shown that babies - even if the language of the songs was unknown - remained silent for singing twice as long as quiet pronunciation. (No)