Last week, I had lunch with a friend who is expecting her first baby. Very exciting! Naturally, we talked a lot about baby care and newborns. The topic of swaddling came up, and she recently heard (via her husband who is an orthopedic surgery resident) that swaddling can contribute to hip dysplasia in infants. Wah? I had never heard that before from doctors and nurses at the hospital or my pediatrician. We swaddled Monica for 8 months! Had I done some kind of hip damage unawares?
When I got home from the lunch date and put Monica down for a nap, I Googled the topic and came up with this letter to the editor from the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics and this article on the NY Times website. Basically, it says that swaddling is not harmful as long as you have the right technique. A lot of references to swaddling that causes/contributes to hip dysplasia originate in cultures that swaddle babies to hard boards. I was really curious what this would look like and I found this:
I wonder how long that little guy stayed like that?!
So, I thought this was good info to pass along. If God blesses us with another babe, I think I'll make a point to ask about swaddle technique. Gotta take care of those hips!
1 comment:
oh, that is very interesting!
my third had hip dysplasia, and was in a spica cast for 4 months.
i'm going to have to check out those websites. thanks.
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