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The effect of swaddling on infant sleep and arousal: A systematic review and narrative synthesis

Dixley, Allison; Ball, Helen L.

The effect of swaddling on infant sleep and arousal: A systematic review and narrative synthesis Thumbnail


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Abstract

To explore the effect of swaddling on infant sleep and arousal in infants under 12 months of age we conducted a systematic review of the evidence published over the past 15 years since the review of van Sleuwen et al. (1). This previous review concluded that swaddling infants above the waist increased sleep duration, reduced motor activity and startles, and lowered heart rate, however swaddling was not found to affect the capacity of the infant to respond to stimulation with less-intense auditory stimulation arousing swaddled infants more effectively than non-swaddled infants. The previous review highlighted “the difference in the physiologic effect of swaddling in QS [quiet sleep] and AS [active sleep]” as an avenue requiring more research (1: e1106). Nelson (2) also conducted a systematic review of swaddling to inform nursing practice, however this did not examine effects on infant sleep and arousal. In their meta-analysis, Pease et al. (3) found evidence to suggest risk of SIDS (a subset of SUDI) increases with infant age when infants are swaddled. They identified a twofold risk for infants aged >6 months. However, their review was limited to “SIDS” as an outcome measure, with no measure of sleep and/or arousal processes. The present review sought to fill these knowledge deficits by answering the question, what is the effect of swaddling on infant sleep and arousal? In developing the literature search strategy, we used the PICO framework to ensure comprehensive and bias-free searches.

Citation

Dixley, A., & Ball, H. L. (2022). The effect of swaddling on infant sleep and arousal: A systematic review and narrative synthesis. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 10, Article 1000180. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2022.1000180

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Oct 5, 2022
Online Publication Date Nov 30, 2022
Publication Date 2022
Deposit Date Dec 22, 2022
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Frontiers in Pediatrics
Publisher Frontiers Media
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 10
Article Number 1000180
DOI https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2022.1000180

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The use, distribution or reproduction in other
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