The artefact of the month for November is a swaddling belt from Jääski. The swaddling belt was acquired by the National Museum of Finland at the end of the 1800s.

Newborn in a tight package

After bathing, the child was swaddled. First, the baby was dressed in a yoke shirt (kokettipaita) but, if there was no shirt, you wrapped a small rag under the baby’s arms and another around the baby’s lower body (rintariepu and pyllyriepu), after which you needed two larger rags. The arms were positioned straight along the sides and the legs were also straightened. ... Finally, a swaddling belt was tied around the baby. It was pulled so tight from neck to toe that the child was completely rigid. This made it easy to handle the child, even if you were inexperienced, and there was no need to worry about the baby’s limbs growing crooked. (A recollection from Korpilahti from the early 1900s)

Newborns were probably swaddled in Finland in the early Middle Ages, but the practice has been in place since the mid-1500s at the latest. The belted, tight-fitting swaddle made the baby easy to handle, kept them warm and helped keep their cot dry. The swaddling was thought to calm the child and bring a sense of security. A swaddled baby was also not able to harm itself.

In addition to physical protection, the swaddle was thought to offer the child magical protection. The tightly tied swaddling cloth prevented the newborn from, for example, flinching when hearing loud noises. It was believed that flinching could lead to the detachment of the shadow soul and the child becoming ill.

Captions
- A swaddling belt knit from cotton yarn from Jääski. Photo Ilari Järvinen, Finnish Heritage Agency
- A swaddled baby in their mother’s arms. The baby’s feet have also been swaddled. The photo is from 1937, taken in Roukalahti, Liperi. The Finnish Heritage Agency’s photo collections, Ethnographic Picture Collection, photograph by Tyyni Vahter.

From a tight package to loose swaddling

The artefact of the month, a swaddling belt, is knitted from cotton yarn. The belt was acquired by the National Museum of Finland at the end of the 1800s. No information has been preserved about who made or used the swaddling belt. In the museum’s 1893 catalogue, it is described simply: KA3825 Swaddling belt, knit from white cotton yarn. Jääski. The swaddling belt is about 15 cm wide and 224 cm long and has braided strings at one end that could be used to tie the belt in place.

Babies were still wrapped in swaddling clothes in Finland in the 1930s, although doctors such as Arvo Ylppö and Armas Ruotsalainen criticised the wrapping of babies in tight swaddling cloth as early as the 1910s. In the words of Ruotsalainen, there is nothing more absurd than swaddling a toddler into a stiff log.

Arvo Ylppö emphasises that moisture evaporates through the skin, and if the baby is in a tight swaddle, the baby is in a constant steam bath.

When the swaddling is not tightened with a swaddling belt, the baby’s legs have room to move. The baby’s arms are also free if the swaddling cloth is wrapped just below the armpits. Even if the baby has been swaddled according to the instructions, Ylppö still reminds parents to open the baby’s swaddling as often as possible. Pleasant disappointment, i.e. the dryness of the swaddling cloth, is always better than neglect.

Swaddling a baby according to Arvo Ylppö’s instructions

In his book Äiti pikkulapsensa hoitajana ja ruokkijana (“The mother as the carer and nurser of her small child”), paediatrician Arvo Ylppö gives advice on the stages of swaddling a baby. His instructions include several different sizes of swaddling cloth, or pieces of fabric, but no swaddling belt.

First, the baby is dressed in a small cotton shirt that is open at the back. A triangular swaddling cloth is wrapped around the baby’s lower body, directly against the skin. The fabric should be as smooth and soft as possible so that it does not chafe the baby’s skin. Ylppö specifically mentions that wool and flannel are bad options because they are too dense when wet and do not let moisture through.

According to Ylppö’s instructions, a knitted or flannel jacket is put over the small shirt. A second, larger cloth is wrapped around the swaddling that protects the baby’s lower body and a rubber-cloth cover is placed on top of it, on the baby’s backside. The rubber lining must not be wrapped around the baby or below the legs, otherwise moisture will get trapped inside the swaddle. On top of all this, a swaddling belt made of a strong fabric, such as flannel, is wrapped.

The direct quote at the beginning of the text is from Sirkka-Liisa Ranta’s book Naisten työt (“Women’s work”).

Kerttuli Hoppa

Further information 

Hoppa, Kerttuli 2010. Paarmuskoista koulutettuihin kätilöihin. Kunnankätilön työ sekä raskauden seurannan ja synnytyksen medikalisoituminen Pohjois-Suomessa vuosina 1900–1960. Pro gradu -tutkielma, Turun yliopisto.   

Hämäläinen-Forslund, Pirjo 1987. Maammon marjat. Entisaikain lasten elämää. WSOY.   

Ranta, Sirkka-Liisa 2015. Naisten työt. Pitkiä päiviä, arkisia askareita. 4 painos. Karisto.   

Ruotsalainen, Armas 1915. Pikkulapsi ja sen hoito. WSOY.   

Ylppö, Arvo 1939. Äiti pikkulapsensa hoitajana ja ruokkijana. Kuudes uudistettu painos. Otava.