On Swaddling

 

Swaddling

The medical rationale in seventeenth-century England: the limbs of a child were tender and could easily bow or bend, taking diverse shapes. There was also the popular fear that unless restrained an infant might tear off its own ears, scratch out its eyes or break its legs. Modern studies have shown that swaddling is convenient for adults, since it slows down the infant’s heartbeat, induces longer sleep and makes for less crying. Russian infants to this very day are still swaddled.

 [excerpted from the book by U.R. Bowie, Here We Be. Where Be We?]