Comparison of behavior modification with and without swaddling as interventions for excessive crying

To test the hypothesis that swaddling is an effective method to reduce crying, we compared a standardized approach of regularity and stimulus reduction with the same approach supplemented with swaddling.

Healthcare nurses coached 398 excessively crying infants up to 12 weeks of age for 3 months. Outcome measurements were crying as measured by Barr's 24-hour diary and parental perception of crying.

Crying decreased by 42% in both groups after the first intervention week. Swaddling had no added benefit in the total group. Young infants (1-7 weeks of age at randomization) benefited significantly more from swaddling as shown by a larger decrease of crying over the total intervention period. Older infants (8-13 weeks of age at randomization) showed a significantly greater decrease in crying when offered the standardized approach without swaddling. The actual difference in crying time was 10 minutes.

For older babies, swaddling did not bring any benefit when added to regularity and stimuli reduction in baby care, although swaddling was a beneficial supplementation in excessively crying infants <8 weeks of age.