The Oh-So-Wonderful Swaddle!
If I ever go to a baby shower, which I’m sure I will at some point, the one thing I know I will definitely get for the new parents-to-be is a swaddle wrap.
The swaddle has saved my life! My daughter has been sleeping throught the night for 10 or 11 hours since she was about 8 weeks old, and I think I owe most of that to the art of swaddling!
Probably the #1 thing that is most hard on new parents is lack of sleep. Let me tell you right now, that a good swaddle wrap will be a godsend in this area! The point of a swaddle is to keep a baby’s arms, not so much their legs, snug against their body so they can’t move them. This helps diminish the affects of the moro reflex, the startle reflex that makes young babies involuntarily fling their arms around and thus wake themselves up, or keep themselves awake all together.
I’ve tried out a few different swaddles, and hopefully these couple reviews will help you to pick the best one for you!
1. Plain old recieving blankets
These will maybe work for you a couple days. Like when your baby is first born and doesn’t really move much and kind of just lays there. After that, they start wiggling around and kicking their legs and you’ll soon find out that after you wrap them up all tight, it’s a matter of minutes, or seconds in my case, that your baby has escaped the swaddle. And if he or she was sleeping, they are now wide awake and screaming. The problem is that most recieving blankets are too small to swaddle with. There needs to be a lot of fabric to work with in order to get a nice, snug wrap. So, recieving blankets in my opinion = a fail in the swaddling department.
2. Large muslin swaddle blankets
I tried these after realizing that I needed a lot more blanket to get a good wrap. They are very light weight and breathable, which is good for summer babies. You won’t have to worry as much about them over heating. The ones I used were abour 44″ by 44″, a good size square of fabric to work with. It was easier to get a good, tight wrap, but the problem was securing it and making it stay put when my baby tried to get out of it. All you can do is take the end of the fabric and try to tuck it inside the wrap, but it doesn’t stay put for long. My daughter is a master of escaping the swaddle, and unfortunately, no matter how tight I made it, or how many different ways of wrapping I tried, she was out of it very soon after falling asleep. In which case I had to rewrap her, and try to get her to fall asleep all over again. Not very helpful.
3. Infant SwaddleMe by Summer
This is second best swaddle I’ve found (my number one is next!). It has velcro, which is something I realized is necessary in keeping a baby in a swaddle. You can look it up and see how it works but it’s very staight-forward and simple to use. With regular blankets, it took a good few minutes to get the material in the right spot and get a tight wrap, but this swaddle makes it super easy. Just put the babies legs in the bottom part, put their arms down at their sides, and wrap the “wings” around them. The top wing has velcro that attaches to the swaddle and keeps them tight all night long. The trick is to make it VERY tight. If you think you’ve got it tight, do it over and make it tighter! Any looseness will allow your baby to wiggle their arms up the top of it and escape. The only downside to this one is that in my experience, the velcro loses it’s stickieness in a matter of weeks. Not even from washing it, just from using it nightly. They are only about $10, so they are cheap enough to buy again if you run into that problem, and if it keeps your baby sleeping through the night, it just might be worth it!
4. Halo Sleepsack with Swaddle
This is the best swaddle I’ve found so far. But if you buy this, make sure you buy the sleepsack with the swaddle, because they also make one that is just a sleepsack, with no swaddle. What I love about this one is that is is looser around the legs, which I think my baby likes. Also, and this is what makes it gold in my eyes, is the velco on it. It is so strong! I’ve had the same one for about a month now and the velcro is as strong as the day I got it, even after washing it. The only downside is that when it’s wrapped really tight, some of the velcro goes a little past the area to attach it to. So there is some velco that isn’t stuck to anything. It hasn’t caused a problem though; my baby still stays wrapped up tight in it.
So there you have it: four different swaddles I’ve tried, and what I like best. Just remember that the tighter you wrap it , the better it will work! Hopefully, you’ll find something that works for you and your baby, and you can get even just a little more sleep at night.
And don’t feel bad about putting your little one in a baby straight jacket- most of them like it! Even if they cry and try to get out of it at first (which my baby did) they are secretly thanking you for it! After all, babies need their sleep, and so do you!!
