Medical educational caregiver on the Fedde&Kees method

From tension and unrest to calm and THE solution!

For 6 years, I have worked as a medical pedagogical caregiver in various children's wards in hospitals.

Where I have been supporting parents of restless babies for years. I have now gained a lot of experience with different types of methods for swaddling babies.

Since this year I've discovered something new that I wouldn't want to keep from other professionals!

We recently started lending out the Fedde&Kees set (the sleeping bag and sheet) to parents when we think it could be helpful, so that parents can try it out at home.

I would like to share a nice and successful experience story from a parent with you:

This concerns a mother who had been swaddling her daughter for some time. Together with her partner, they were looking for the right moment to gradually stop the official swaddling.

Mother said that they discussed this with each other every week, but given the lack of sleep, she didn't dare to take the step.

They came to our hospital on the children's ward for a recording. We got talking about the postnatal period and the first few months, and before long, the mother was telling us how intense it had been.

It was their first baby, they had received a lot of advice and there had been a lot of unrest. They soon started swaddling, which proved to be successful. Until she started rolling over and the parents realised it was time to phase it out. But how?

Parents tried many things, first one little arm out of the swaddle, then two, and then back in again. Just a few nights without the swaddle but that didn't help either.

They came to our hospital precisely during that period.

Since we recently started using the Fedde&Kees sleeping bag and sheet here in the hospital, I decided to lend it to my mother. This way, we can try to wean off swaddling in a different way.

I called them a few days later to hear how the mother was doing. And it was a very surprising and nice phone call.

It went brilliantly!

That same evening they placed her in the sleeping bag under the sheet, and it soon became apparent that she seemed to have gotten used to it. Because the zips of the sleeping bag could be zipped up, this gave her the feeling of being contained, which she was used to. This, combined with the special deep pressure from the sheet. After a couple of naps and a bit of getting used to it, the parents saw a baby who fell asleep quickly and could have her naps peacefully again.

The combination of the sleeping bag and sheet provided the same sensation she was accustomed to from the old inberbag.

Together they had overcome this hurdle, unswaddled!

Medical educational caregiver, Melissa Cabaret-Wesselius