Swaddle Me

James loves to be swaddled. By day 5 of his life, he would put his arms straight at his sides when we put him on his swaddle blanket. He sleeps so very well swaddled. So...Jordan swaddled me one afternoon when I was feeling tired so that I could sleep well. Thanks hubsand!

One afternoon, James became tired while both of his swaddle blankets were being washed. I wanted him to be able to sleep well and not jolt himself awake, so I had to think creatively. I decided that a long sleeved footie pajama would do the trick if I just didn't put his arms through the arm holes...

As you can see, James outsmarted me...He has very good arm control.

I don't know why I even dress him...I think he's ready to dress himself...

I, however, would not allow myself to be defeated. I went back to the closet and acquired a sleeper that has elastic at the bottom--a sleep sack if you will--and put it on him over his pj's. At this point, he had one arm through the sleeve of the pj and one still tucked inside. After putting the sleep sack on him, I cleverly tied the sleeves in a knot, so that he couldn't proceed to dress himself as he had previously.


The above picture is James after a nice long nap. He slept quite well and didn't get his arms through the sleeves. He did, however, manage to push the once tucked away hand up out of the neck of both pj's. He is such a clever boy. I determined from this experience that I am grateful that I have my swaddle blankets.

If you are interested in some good 40" x 40" blankets that can grow with your baby because of their size, go to www.bbsleepsolutions.com. The blankets come with instructions for doing the "burrito"--James was sporting the "burrito" in an earlier post. bbsleepsolutions is a baby sleep consulting company. The program is great. I was introduced to it by a friend who had a baby sleep party at which the founder came and taught us about how to help our babies sleep well and also how to swaddle. I bought one blanket at the sleep party and the second at a sleep party that I held. If you are looking for a good sleep program for your baby, I highly recommend The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp, M.D. and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth, M.D. The bbsleepsolutions program is based on these two books. James is a great sleeper and a very happy baby. He is already sleeping through the night. I am grateful that I learned about sleep before he arrived.

Thank you to Dr. Karp and Dr. Weissbluth for the wisdom shared in your books, to Jamie Kent of bbsleepsolutions for giving me the practical knowledge I needed to help my baby sleep, to Crystal Odom for inviting me to the sleep party, and to my dear Dr. Beth for first introducing me to both sleep books.