You read it in all of the baby books, but never truly realize how valuable a good swaddle is until you get one that works. These same books also try to guide you through the swaddling process, but in my case, I failed each time. Either my receiving blankets were too small, my wrap too loose, or my baby too Houdini-esque to remain wrapped like a mummy. It was one particularly desperate moment of dealing with a hollering, non-sleeping baby when I searched online for swaddling solutions, and came across the Miracle Blanket.
It seemed hard to find this extolled blanket at an online retailer with IMMEDIATE shipping, nor could I easily locate a store in Montreal where I could find said blanket, and by some miracle (!) I found someone selling two of them second-hand in my part of town. Once in possession of these blankets, and following the handy how-to video on the company’s website, lo and behold my baby was swaddled and quiet in a near-instant. This blanket was definitely true to its name!
Basically, this is a shaped blanket that allows you to practically straight-jacket your baby. Now this may sound dramatic, but the results are astounding (and baby does not seem to mind). Baby’s arms stay in place because you wrap some fabric over them and then underneath baby’s back. Then you place the baby’s legs into a little pouch, then finish off the wrap with a large piece of fabric that wraps around the whole baby. The blanket is made from a lightweight cotton so your baby won’t get too warm (though I did the swaddling in the winter; summertime swaddling may get a bit toasty but they claim it should be fine for summer nights). And voilà – combine this with the required loud SHHHH-ing and the result is a happily-swaddled and peaceful infant!
I definitely recommend having at least two blankets, for the times when one is in the wash (and one is almost always in the wash), and you want to minimize wear on either of the blankets. My only complaint is that the fabric started to get worn around one of the arm seams forming a tiny hole, but since I bought these second-hand and used them for several months, they had probably been through more than your average number of wearings. However, this was a small price to pay for the peace of mind of a sleeping baby…
The Miracle Blanket can be purchased from the company’s website for around $30USD, and can also be found at other Canadian online retailers.
