Benefits of Wrapping Premature Babies
“A woman is pregnant for nine months, she is postpartum for the rest of her life.” The biochemical truth of this is good news for the healing of our planet. Postpartum women are a gentle and essential force of nature. They are full of love, and there can never be too much love.” ~Ibu Robin Lim
All babies benefit from being held against their mothers, and from staying close during sleep and feedings, too. But a premature infant has the most to gain from being close to mother’s heart, and the greatest benefits are had when mother and baby are skin to skin, with no clothing or fabric between their bodies. This is known as Kangaroo Care and the benefits are so great, that studies have found preemies kept against their mother’s chests to do better than their counterparts in incubators!
Before man made the technology you find in hospitals, Nature, God, or Evolution made man, and gave every man a mother to warm him and raise him. I think mothers are so cool, I could start a cult (if I had the time)! For example, did you know that a mother’s breasts change temperature warm or cool a baby held against her? Her body knows the optimum temperature for her baby before her baby’s body has learned to self-regulate temperature.
In fact, being held against mother’s body teaches a baby’s body a lot about how to behave. From us they learn to regulate temperature, but also the rhythm of regular heartbeats. One reason why sleeping with your baby can help prevent SIDS is that being beside our body remind a baby’s body to keep up regular breathing.
And when all of the baby’s systems are working optimally, he or she will sleep more, promoting healing and growth. So for all these reasons, premature infants that are worn and whose parents practice Kangaroo Care grow faster, and are generally allowed to go home from the hospital sooner. So if you are looking for a way to support your baby’s growth perfectly and give your family every edge for being together soon, look into Kangaroo Care. Here is an excellent article on the subject of Kangaroo Care and why it works.
Crystal Spear July 28, 2019 at 6:44 pm
Can you wrap a 3.5 lb preemie the same way as a 10 lb newborn?
DianaR July 29, 2019 at 11:50 am
Hi, Crystal. The smaller the baby, the more important it is to ensure adequate support so there is no danger of positional asphyxia (not getting enough oxygen due to a slumping position). This is true in any baby holder, in arms, OR in your wrap. But a woven wrap is a great choice for a tiny preemie since the fabric doesn’t stretch like a stretchy wrap (Moby, Boba, Solly, etc). Make sure your baby’s spine is supported straight up and down and that the wrap is snug around baby to prevent him or her from curling forward or slumping in any direction. And make sure baby’s chin is up – not curled down toward baby’s chest. Keep in mind that baby’s airway is like a plastic drinking straw and if folded forward by chin down, it may not admit sufficient oxygen. So while these things are important, they are also fairly easy to achieve and monitor. And with baby wrapped on your chest you will be able to stay aware of baby’s regular breathing (noisy breathing may indicate a poor position). AND you get all the benefits of skin to skin contact which has been found to help preemies thrive, gain weight, etc. Wrap topless if you can (the wrap will provide you with discretion), and with baby in diaper only, to maximize the skin to skin contact. Or if not possible you still get skin to skin contact through baby’s face resting on your chest above your collar. This will also allow mother’s body to help regulate baby’s temperature which can be more effective than hospital equipment.
There are so many benefits to a preemie of being held against mother’s chest, so hopefully using a woven wrap will help you with that. If your baby is hooked up to any equipment, you will have the added challenge of wrapping around that. Let me know if you need help with that. All my love to you and your new baby <3