How should I swaddle my baby?

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Dr. Ann Kellams

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Virginia

Dr. Ann Lenox Kellams, assistant professor of clinical pediatrics in the Division of General Pediatrics and medical director of the newborn nursery at the University of Virginia Children’s Hospital, is an expert in newborn care and breastfeeding. Kellams teaches pediatric clinical skills to students and residents and authored the Newborn Nursery Resident and Student Curriculum and Orientation Manual for UVA Children’s Hospital. Kellams serves her surrounding community by being a mentor for the African American Student Mentorship Program, by serving on the Virginia Breastfeeding Advisory Committee and by hosting various community education workshops on newborn and infant care. She received the Outstanding Graduate Designation from her alma mater, the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.

How should I swaddle my baby?

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Dr. Ann Kellams provides tips on swaddling your infant.

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Transcripts

Host: How should I swaddle my baby?

Dr. Ann Kellams: So the tips for swaddling, you want to lay the blanket out in a diamond shape so one of the points or one of the corners is at the top. Fold that down just slightly, maybe six inches or so and put that right behind the baby's head at the base of the neck where the edge is and then what I tend to do is go side, bottom, side. So I take the first corner, that's left or right, it can be either side it doesn't matter and I trap the baby's arm in and fold that over the baby and tuck the edge underneath the baby. Then you take the bottom; pull it up, pretty snugly. We are making a little burrito here, pull it out snugly tuck in the edge on that same side where you tucked in the other side. Pull the other corner over, snugly wrap it around the baby and then all of a sudden you have this nice, little bundle. So it's away from their heads, not causing a suffocation risk, but they are feeling snug and warm.