Is it okay for babies to sleep with their arms tied?

Parents all hope that their babies can have a good sleep. If you want to promote the baby's sleep, you need to do a good job in all aspects, such as adjusting the baby's sleeping environment, protecting the baby's skin, letting the baby play some music that helps sleep, etc. In life, parents often encounter situations where their babies sleep unsteadily. Some parents will tie their babies' arms to sleep. Is this a good practice?

Is it okay for babies to sleep with their arms tied?

Is it okay for babies to sleep with their arms tied?

The fetus is in the mother's womb in a position where it is curled up with its back outside and its abdomen inside, with its hands and feet protected outside its chest and abdomen. When the baby is born, the external space becomes larger, the hands and feet can move freely, and the nerves that control the hands and feet are also quite mature. Therefore, even newborn babies should not be tied up into a "candle bag". If the temperature is suitable, leave the baby's feet exposed, allow the baby to move as much as possible, and cover the baby's chest and abdomen to avoid external stimulation or cold. This is beneficial to the healthy growth and development of your baby.

Giving newborns a candle wrap is very harmful

This way of tying the baby up is called "candle wrapping" because the baby looks like a candle. This way of wrapping not only fails to prevent children from having bow legs, but is also very harmful.

First of all, it affects the blood circulation of children's limbs and is prone to cause trauma. Clinically, many newborns suffer bruises on their limbs due to their hands and feet being tied up with cloth strips or other items, and some even face the risk of amputation due to long-term blood circulation problems.

Secondly, children’s limbs are tied and they cannot move freely, which is extremely detrimental to their brain development.

Thirdly, tying up the limbs can easily cause children's hands and feet to become inflexible, affecting their growth and development.

Why do babies' hands and feet shake when they sleep?

It is normal for babies to have unconscious shaking hands and feet, especially when they are crying and stretching their limbs. This is mainly because the baby's nervous system function is not yet fully developed and the nerves' control over the muscles is incomplete. If the baby has this condition frequently and the movements are regular and unilateral, it may be a cramp. It is recommended that the mother take the baby to a neurologist for a check-up.

Newborn babies are generally more excited and agitated, and they are easily startled. These may be physiological phenomena. When the mother undresses the baby, the baby will shake a few times, and the shaking may occur repeatedly. If the mother holds the baby's hands or puts her hands on the baby's belly to comfort him, the shaking will disappear immediately. This is normal tremor of the newborn.

Sleep myoclonus is caused by the high level of neurotransmitters in the baby's excitatory nerves, relatively good development, and poor inhibition. After the baby falls asleep, the excitement of the cerebral cortex is further reduced. Since the higher nervous system has an inhibitory effect on the neurons at the next level, the inhibitory effect will be even lower after the baby falls asleep. Therefore, the baby will have small movements after falling asleep, and these movements may even occur repeatedly. However, the baby has never experienced such a situation when waking up. This is called "sleep myoclonus" and is generally benign and not a big problem. Very few babies have myoclonus that does not occur during sleep. For such babies, it is necessary to pay attention to whether they have such symptoms when they wake up besides sleeping. It is also necessary to consider whether the baby's overall development is normal. If necessary, the mother should take the baby to the hospital for examination.