Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: Swaddling Infants May Increase Risk of SIDS, Study Finds

Babies who were swaddled were more likely to die of SIDS, especially if they were placed on their sides or stomachs while swaddled, researchers said. The study was published in Pediatrics.

What all has research proved regarding swaddling:

Swaddling can encourage parents to place infant in supine position (Oden, 2012) •

Swaddling can decrease pain perception (Morrow et al., 2010; Shu et al., 2014) •

Swaddling can increase comfort (Morrow et al., 2010; Shu et al., 2014) •

Swaddling after the infant is able to roll into a prone position (sometimes around three to four months) increases the risk for SIDs (McDonnell and Moon, 2014) •

Swaddling after the age of three to four months decreases the infant’s ability to awake from sleep (Richardson et al., 2009) •

Improper swaddling can increase the risk of hip dysplasia due to the immobility of the hip joints (Guner et al, 2013)

According to research, what all do we know regarding risk factors of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS):