Suzanne Tayal of Columbus, Ohio, tried to swaddle her son, Aaron, 6, when he was a baby by copying nurses who tidily wrapped infants in the hospital nursery. "I saw the nurses in newborn nursery do it and I could never wrap it as tight as them," she says. It was not until she had her daughter, Marisa, almost 2, that Tayal learned the art of swaddling, or snugly wrapping, an infant in blankets or swaddling clothes.

Dr. Bradley T. Thach, a professor of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine, says the fact that many parents abandon the practice of swaddling is disturbing because 2 to 4 months is the peak risk period for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). "The problem is once a baby reaches 3 months swaddled in the traditional ways that Americans swaddle babies, they can escape and that's the critical time for SIDS that you want to keep them swaddled," he says.

Along with Dr. Claudia M. Gerard, an instructor in pediatrics at Washington University, Dr. Thach conducted research that showed the practice of swaddling babies lowers SIDS risk. And researchers at the Pediatric Sleep Unit of the University Children's Hospital in Brussels, Belgium, recently found swaddling does help babies sleep longer and better. That means more shuteye for parents.

Dr. Thach, who developed an escape-proof zip-up swaddle made of cotton, Spandex and Velcro, says his findings somewhat mirrored those of the study published in the May 2005 Pediatrics, where researchers found swaddling increases a baby's sleep efficiency and non-rapid eye movement sleep.

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