Dec. 23, 1999 - Thursday
In the hospital, nurses regularly swaddle newborns so that their arms, like in straitjackets, are tightly wrapped across their chests and their knees tucked up beside their bellies. This position and the resulting warmth somewhat resembles infants in the womb and is, therefore, thought to be comforting to the babies in their first days. Some babies even sleep more soundly or are calmed by swaddling for several weeks or even months. I don’t believe that a sign of anything in particular.

Harry, too, seemed comforted by the swaddling for a few days. However, last night in his pre-sleep diaper changing, he seemed to discover his arms. He stretched them outward fully to the side and held them, then stretch one straight upward and held it, then the other seemingly trying out the different positions, though he was likely just stretching. We swaddled him as usual before putting in his bassinet for the night, but in the morning he had unwound his arms and was lying with them straight out to the side again. We think that maybe he's had enough of the swaddling.