Which swaddler?

[~Amy~]

I never really tried very hard to swaddle DS1.  He wasn't impressed and I ended up just holding him for sleeping most of the time, but he was a crappy sleeper (just finally getting over that at 2.5yo).  DS2 is on the way and realistically, I will likely have to lay him down for sleep at times, so I'd like to figure out how to swaddle him successfully.  So which swaddler(s) should I try?  He'll be arriving in the spring and summer is hot here (no AC in the house) so I don't want anything too heavy past the first month or so.  I was thinking about the Aden & Annis blankets because they seem quite thin.  Thoughts?

[Knitting Mama]

A+A are great if you are okay with learning how to swaddle well and don't mind that they're harder to secure that way. There are other lightweight choices too, like the SwaddlePod, which we used for some time. The thing is, some babies don't do well with stretchy swaddles, and the pod definitely is stretchy. In fact, most of the lightweight swaddles out there are stretchy.

[P.J.]

DS was a summer newborn and we used Aden&Anais and mostly loved it, although there were times I just could.not.get it right and ended up very frustrated (and DS then awake from all the fumbling). We then got a Swaddle Me bamboo material one, as it is very thin, but it was just too stretchy and didn't quite fit right. By then it was end of summer and a bit cooler but still hot, so we got a Swaddle Me cotton and loved it! Much easier to get on than the Aden & Anais. But for those dripping hot sweaty heat waves, the A&A was definitely the coolest one I found. Even if you don't use it or like it for swaddling, there are many many other uses for it so I'd say just get it and see....

[Knitting Mama]

I should add that we most often used the SwaddleMe flannel blanket because it's not stretchy, but while Cecilia was a summer infant, we most certainly have air conditioning or we'd about die in the desert.

[Snapdragon]

I am personallly a fan of the miracle blanket.

[chattyprincess]

The woombie....the have different "strengths" of swaddles our dd loved the orginal but there are harder ones. http://www.thewoombie.com/ 

www.babyhalfoff.com Offers them half off every once in a while...we got ours there for half price!

[sosurreal09]

I have to recommend the miracle blanket just put the babe in it in his dipe it is thin too http://www.miracleblanket.com/index.htm

[sosurreal09]

Originally Posted by chattyprincess 

The woombie....the have different "strengths" of swaddles our dd loved the orginal but there are harder ones. http://www.thewoombie.com/ 

www.babyhalfoff.com Offers them half off every once in a while...we got ours there for half price!

I HATED the woombie...like with a passion. It didn't help DD at all and the stinking snap to the thing that covers the zipper, the end that clicks in stayed clicked in while the cloth part with the top of the snap (that had 5 extremely pointy things in it to latch onto the snap) became free...well I found DD chewing on it and grabbed it right away and took her out of it BUT the stinking metal things cut her gums up!!!

I wrote to the company and they apologized and gave me a refund...then recommended more products...!!

[violet_]

We loved the Woombie -- it's simple to use (you zip it up!), and DD loved to be able to move her arms a bit within, but she couldn't bop herself in the nose and wake herself up! 

[Lucy Alden]

I too love the MIracle Blanket.  In the summer we had DS in a diaper, the Miracle Blanket and nothing else.  When it got really hot we just kept his feet out of the little pocket at the bottom.

[aphel]

Just something to keep in mind, though I know other moms have used it without problem, but we tried a miracle blanket with DD at about 4 mos. and not only is she able to break free from it, but it has a long tail when it unravels and seems really unsafe (if they can manage to get out of it). We did manage to find a way to kind of tuck it in so it doesn't unravel (and other moms have used things like velcro or dipe pins), but she is still able to loosen it enough to get her arms out, and the last few nights I've had to sleepily re-swaddle her in the middle of the night.

Just my experience, but we're ordering a woombie on payday . . . .

[Funny Face]

i'm using the a+a blankets and love them- esp. for my hot natured baby.

[sosurreal09]

Originally Posted by aphel 

Just something to keep in mind, though I know other moms have used it without problem, but we tried a miracle blanket with DD at about 4 mos. and not only is she able to break free from it, but it has a long tail when it unravels and seems really unsafe (if they can manage to get out of it). We did manage to find a way to kind of tuck it in so it doesn't unravel (and other moms have used things like velcro or dipe pins), but she is still able to loosen it enough to get her arms out, and the last few nights I've had to sleepily re-swaddle her in the middle of the night.

Just my experience, but we're ordering a woombie on payday . . . .

well usually you stop swaddling at about 4 months b/c they are working on rolling over

[Knitting Mama]

Originally Posted by sosurreal09 

Originally Posted by aphel 

Just something to keep in mind, though I know other moms have used it without problem, but we tried a miracle blanket with DD at about 4 mos. and not only is she able to break free from it, but it has a long tail when it unravels and seems really unsafe (if they can manage to get out of it). We did manage to find a way to kind of tuck it in so it doesn't unravel (and other moms have used things like velcro or dipe pins), but she is still able to loosen it enough to get her arms out, and the last few nights I've had to sleepily re-swaddle her in the middle of the night.

Just my experience, but we're ordering a woombie on payday . . . .

well usually you stop swaddling at about 4 months b/c they are working on rolling over

I don't know, surely I'm not the only one who is still swaddling at 9 months! In fact, I know I'm not, since I've posted about it before,

[sosurreal09]

WOW 9 months! we stopped once DD was rolling over. The "jolts" stopped waking her then.

[lrgs]

Well at the rate I'm going I"ll be swaddling my DD until she's 18. My ODD was swaddled until 7.5 months when we just couldn't contain her anymore and my YDD is 5 months now and doesn't show any signs of being able to give up the swaddle. She actually sleeps in a Woombie (always broke out of the swaddle) and I've tried to wean her off it but it just doesn't work. We hardly get any sleep as it is and when I try to put her in a sleep sac, it's even worse. Lately I've had some luck with swaddling her but leaving one arm free. DH and I got tired of hourly wake ups and went back to the woombie last night, it still wasn't the greatest but it was a lot better. My IL's are constantly on our case about it, saying we put our daughter in a torture device but it's what works for her.

[Snapdragon]

my 9 mo still sleeps swaddled too! We are in the process of transitioning him from it - he has slept a couple of times yesterday unswaddled- but mostly the swaddle helps a lot still-

when he started rolling over we figured out to put a "sleep positioner" (rolled up towels from bottom of his body to shoulder height) to keep him on his back.

Now he turns  on his side sometimes swaddled- and we are trying some unswaddled sleeps when we can.

[porcelina]

We have been using the Miracle Blanket. I like that it is a lot harder to get out of than the cheap swaddle me ones with a flimsy velcro. Overall, it works really well. However, DS is 3 months and is already starting to break out of it. I think part of the problem is that when you handle them, the swaddle tends to undo and get a bit looser because there is no fastening device. We just got a Woombie for Xmas, and have used it a couple of times, but don't like it much. He thinks he can get his hands out to suck on them, but they get stuck at the top, which frustrates him. We have a 14-19 pound one because DS is 15 pounds. We have given up on it for now. :(

[chattyprincess]

 

Originally Posted by sosurreal09 

Originally Posted by chattyprincess 

The woombie....the have different "strengths" of swaddles our dd loved the orginal but there are harder ones. http://www.thewoombie.com/ 

www.babyhalfoff.com Offers them half off every once in a while...we got ours there for half price!

I HATED the woombie...like with a passion. It didn't help DD at all and the stinking snap to the thing that covers the zipper, the end that clicks in stayed clicked in while the cloth part with the top of the snap (that had 5 extremely pointy things in it to latch onto the snap) became free...well I found DD chewing on it and grabbed it right away and took her out of it BUT the stinking metal things cut her gums up!!!

I wrote to the company and they apologized and gave me a refund...then recommended more products...!!

Hmm...I think they must have changed thier design...because what your saying makes not a bit of sense to me lol.

it has a two way zipper so that you can just unzip legs to change them if you need to. The top zipper is covered by a very soft fleecy feeling "tab" that velcros...nothing pointy at all and no snaps anywhere...

http://www.thewoombie.com/original_woombie.html 

[Knitting Mama]

Originally Posted by sosurreal09 

WOW 9 months! we stopped once DD was rolling over. The "jolts" stopped waking her then.

Yeah, Cecilia still sleep so much better swaddled. Luckily, I am also blessed with a baby who doesn't move much in her sleep, so I have never had a worry about laying her down swaddled even now that she is crawling. She also sleeps on her tummy swaddled, which I know that a lot of people don't like doing, but she sleeps so very well that way, and of course, she can move her head (and whole body) well now.