When I had my first baby, I was all about the swaddling. She was born right when the cold winter weather was setting in, so keeping her warm and cozy was priority number one. I don’t think she loved it, though. The skeptical look on her tiny face made me wonder what a baby is thinking when they’re being swaddled. She never gave the impression that she was totallycomfortable in her swaddle. True, I never reached an "expert level" technique but I knew that, as one of the five S’s, swaddling could help her relax and sleep for longer than an hour at a time (her, apparently, favorite newborn routine). I wanted to make it work.
Still, wanting it to work doesn't mean that every kid will automatically (or ever) take to swaddling, and as they get olderswaddling might compromise their safety. When I had my second baby, in the summer, the heat precluded me from wrapping him up. The two of us would sweat all over each other when I’d walk around with him in the baby carrier. I retired the swaddling blankets shortly after his birth, sadly.
Still, even after my swaddling days were over, I continued to wonder what my kids thought about being completely tucked in. Since they are growing up to constantly question everything their parents do, I’m guessing they had some reservations about it. I may be totally projecting, but here are some things I'm pretty confident in assuming a baby is thinking when they’re being swaddled. (Especially by someone, like me, who never got the hang of it.)