If you’ve been or known a new mother, you’ll understand the bone-deep desperation that creeps in at 3am when swaying in the kitchen, heating a bottle for a wailing newborn. Or, while swiping through Instagram, trying to keep your eyes open during a pre-dawn feed. In this zombified state, your gaze might lock on a beautiful image that ignites your interest and envy: A neutral-toned nursery with a canopy draped over a blonde wood cot, and at its centre, the most coveted thing of all – a peacefully sleeping baby, wrapped up like a rosebud in a blush-coloured weighted swaddle. Below the picture is a cascade of five-star rave reviews. Intrigued, you swipe to read more. The weighted wrap promises to calm and soothe your infant. It claims it releases dopamine and serotonin for your baby’s best sleep ever. You toggle through the website, clumsy in your haste. Seventy dollars for a good night’s sleep? You’re primed to say yes but first you check their safety credentials.
“Studies have shown …”
“Research by neonatal nurses …”
“Follows the guidelines for safe sleep …”
Tick-tick-tick. Happily reassured, you press purchase and feel a rush of relief. This science-backed miracle product is on its way to save your sanity. You trust in its claims and safety.
You shouldn’t.
Red Nose, a SIDS charity working to save lives and support families, recently published a warning, imploring parents not to buy sleep products that put weight on infants. Newborns have pliable chest
