The Swaddle: A Tutorial - Knoxville, TN. - June 2015

There's something I've been meaning to share for quite some time...  So while The hub is downstairs banging around in the garage building shelves and our 3 little ladies are snoozing down the hall, there's no time like the present to share.  I have several friends that have just had babies or are expecting, so I hope this post is helpful.

Those of you that know me personally know that I have a few talents.  I'm a decent singer, in the car and shower.  when there is time, I write, occasionally I craft, I make one of the worlds best eggplant parmesans, but in my little circle of friends what I am known for is...

Making my babies SLEEP!!!

Initially, we thought E's ability to sleep was our Lord's bizarre brand of humor.  

We just figured that since she screamed all day long, God took it upon himself to grant her that supernatural ability to give her parents a full nights rest in order for us to prepare for and survive the next day.  She slept through the night at 8 weeks.  And when I say slept through the night I mean SLEPT!!!  Like 10-12 hours on a regular basis.

However, when MJ cruised through her first full nights sleep at  4 and a half weeks we had a feeling we were on to something.

Then when Baby A followed in her big sister's footsteps, sleeping through the night at 3 weeks I felt a little bit more confident sharing a few of our baby sleep tips.

Note To Reader: I must preface this entire post by saying I'm not a baby sleep expert, and we have had our share of sleepless nights so please take these for what they are worth one mama (or papa) to the next... This is how we survived!

In addition to a sweet email with scheduling instructions from my dear friend Cozy that I STILL read whenever I need encouragement, we owe much of our sleep success to the following 3 things:

The Top off and GOOD Burp

The Swaddle

and Technology: The Video Monitor and The Ocean 

Today, as the title suggests, I'm going to dig into the 2nd, The Swaddle.  We have our lovely model, Baby A assisting us in today's tutorial.  She was about 9 months old in this pictures and we'd just switched her from the swaddled to the sleep sack.

You will need:

1 Baby (for best results, twins should be swaddled separately... Ha ha!)

1 Swaddler - We use the Summer Infant Swaddle Me
1 Large Lightweight Swaddling Blanket - Ours was a hand made gift, but these Summer Infant Swaddle Blankets are REALLY similar.

 The Blanket size in relationship to the baby.  You can see it's a large blanket, but it's a pretty thin single layer light weight fleece.

This blanket was a gift we received from our dear friend Lanier back when I was pregnant with E and has been well used and LOVED!!!

Step 1: Lay blanket in the floor and fold down the top corner.

Step 2: Lay swaddler on top lining up the top of the fold to the top of the swaddler.

Step 3: Put baby on top of the swaddler.

Step 4: Tuck feet into swaddler.

Step 5: Lay baby's arms at her side and TIGHTLY wrap swaddler from left to right around her and tuck extra behind her back, like this...

See arms and hands are still by her side.  This is one of the trickier parts because the more wiggly your baby is the harder it is to keep those crazy arms inside, but DON't be tempted to let them roam free.  The reason this works is because those wild hands and arms have a tendency to explore while baby is sleeping, and the moment those chubby little kissable hands touch baby's face...
***POOF***
The sleep spell is broken! So WRAP 'EM UP TIGHT!!!

There are velcro sections that will be close to touching.  Don't worry if they don't line up exactly.  Just be sure at lease a little bit is connected

Step 6: Pull the right side of the swaddler back around to the left and catch the velcro on this side.

So that's the inner swaddle.  It should be super tight and it might take some practice.  Now onto the "secret" outer swaddle.

Step 7: Take the left corner of the lightweight blanket and wrap it around the baby from left to right, like this...

Tuck the extra blanket flat around and behind baby, like this...

It should look smooth and flat.  The fewer wrinkles in the blanket the more secure the swaddle and the lower the chances of escape.

Step 8: pull the lower corner up and lay flat on top of the baby, like this...

Step 9: Tightly wrap the right side of the blanketfrom right to left, like this...

... and gently wrap all the way arond baby and pull TIGHTLY.

Step 10: You'll have a blanket tail that you'll need to secure...

Tuck the blanket tail inside the bottom, by the feet, like this...

Voila!  You now have what many people refer to as the "baby burrito".

HAPPY BABY!!

I'll close this post by letting you know that EVEN TODAY, although we no longer swaddle them, our children (ages 16 m/o, 3 y/o, and 5 y/o) STILL sleep through most nights and they nap.  This may sound bizarre but sleep is SUPER important in our house for EVERYONE's sanity and well being. We don't do "quiet time" or "rest time".  Between the hours of 2:00 and 4:30pm and you're under the age of 7 (and sometimes older, depending on your attitude) you're taking a nap!

Do you have any great baby sleep tips? post them in the comments below.

HAPPY SWADDLING!!!

Till next time,
Bon Voyage!