Ultra Hip Mama

When they first handed my son to me in the hospital he was tightly wrapped like a sardine in a can.  Of course the first thing I did was dismantle the swaddle and laid the babe skin to skin. Despite how much I wanted to hold my little Bean, there were times that this just wasn’t practical or possible and back into the swaddle he’d go. I’d learned how to swaddle from an expert years ago (she’d worked in the nursery at the hospital most of her life and was now my assistant at the childcare center for which we worked.) My husband had not. He kept watching the nurses, asking for guidance as he tried to swaddle this little guy. I even tried a few times only to find that swaddling is not like riding a bicycle-you can lose your touch.

The nurses were able to swaddle Bean so effectively you practically needed the jaws of life to extract him, but whenever my husband or I tried, Bean became the baby Houdini and escaped the blanket. Why is it so difficult? First, the hospital blankets (and basically all other receiving blankets) are rectangular. Swaddling is best done with a square blanket (in my opinion) which can be nicely folded into a triangle. Second, babies squirm and it makes it far more difficult to swaddle a baby, especially when you start with inadequate materials.

Enter the Miracle Blanket. I received the Miracle Blanket from my sister, who’s best friend gave it to her for me. My sister’s friend had found the Miracle Blanket to be indespensible and it was her favorite item when he children were babies and thought I would like it. She was wrong. We LOVED it.

The Miracle Blanket claims:

•  Stops Colic – GUARANTEED!
• Eases Fussiness For ANY Baby!
• Helps Baby Sleep Better/Longer!
• Prevents Facial Scratches!
• Stops Twitches That Wake Your Baby!
• Makes Breast Feeding MUCH Easier!
• Makes Your Baby Feel Warm & Secure!
• One Size Fits All Up to Four Months
• 100% High Quality Cotton

My Bean doesn’t have colic and I can’t think how the Miracle Blanket stops colic, but all of the other claims seem to be quite accurate for our Bean (although he is a long string bean so I’m not sure if it will last up to four months.) The Miracle Blanket is so easy to use-it’s basically idiot proof swaddling. We love this blanket so much, we don’t really use any of the other blankets we have. After using this, I wouldn’t buy an expectant mother anything else for a blanket.

I know that there has been some controversy about swaddling lately. I say go with your gut about swaddling. We don’t always swaddle Bean, it’s generally only when he is really fussy (from being tired but not falling asleep) and at night, since Bean does move a bit and wake himself easily. Bean settles down, stops crying and often smiles when we swaddle him, so I think we’re doing the right thing.

The Miracle Blanket sells for $29.99 and there are several colors from which to choose.  The one we have is no longer made, but I actually like the colors they have now better than the one we received. It is not available in stores to my knowledge.