Quote:
|
With humans, swaddling is a time honored thing for infants. It appears to mimic the comfort that babies have in their care being wrapped and held. So, it makes some sense that it would supply comfort. Dogs are never wrapped and carried or cuddled by their moms. They hit the ground and must with only an occasional nudge from mom, get to the food bar on their own. Ditto with the litter comfort, they must get themselves to the group.
|
I believe swaddling is meant to mimic the feeling of being squished in the womb, not just the feeling of being cuddled after being born (the reason cuddling works is also because it mimics the feeling of being in the womb), in which case it does make sense that it would work for almost any mammal (except marsupials obviously). Since swaddling works to comfort even brand-new newborns, I think the comfort gained from cuddling and swaddling comes from mimicking the feeling of having been in the womb, not from mimicking cuddling after being born (since cuddling hasn't happened enough/at all yet to have become a learned response), if that makes sense.
Also, as I understand this theory, it's based on physical pressure being a way to overload and thereby "reset" certain nerve pathways, which breaks certain thought/behaviour cycles (also why it works for some people with autism and also, I believe certain anxiety disorders). Incidentally, this is also a part of why heat, cold and pressure minimize pain perception, because the nervous pathways which carry temperature and pressure are stronger than those which carry pain (yes, there's also blood supply and anaesthetic properties to heat and cold therapy, but the temperature response part is also a factor).