How long did you swaddle your newborn for and what did you use?

[Naisy]

Hi, I'm a little confused about what type of cloth / muslin / blanket to buy for swaddling.

I've read muslins can be used - if so, what size? - but then others have told me no.

Would love to hear from mums with swaddling experiance about what you found most effective.

I really don't like the look of the velco swaddles and their ilk. I'd rather buy some blankets that are suitable and can also be used for other purposes.

Many thanks!

I used cellular blankets in the beginning (on mw's advice) but my dd didn't like being swaddled. She always managed to wriggle her way out even from birth. Then I used the Velcro ones but she could get out of those too. So I gave up.

We also mainly coslept in the first few months so she didn't need swaddling in our bed.

I think the type of blanket you use depends on when they're born so how thick it needs to be.

Depending on how warm it was both of my DCs were swaddled in either just a normal blanket or cot sheet. The both loved it, I think they were swaddled until about 4 weeks old, then they went into sleeping bags

Oops, should have mentioned, due late Sept / early Oct so will be cold through to December. Then moving to Melbourne so it will be hot from about 2.5 months, but I've bought a couple of summer weight sleeping bags for then...

So guess just Sept > Dec question...

And three months was about how lond DS wanted/needed the swaddle. Once he started really fighting it, we stopped. But I am a firm believer in the 'fourth trimester' theory and so swaddling for the first three months worked for us. The aden and anais swaddle blankets were best for us, he escaped all the fancy velco swaddles we had (or they were too complex for our post-birth thicko brains!). They were also.nice nd lightweight ans multi-purpose.

I swaddled ds up to about 4 or 5 months as he loved it. Used the swaddle me wraps - so easy to use, and keeps them secure.

I never swaddled. She hated it from the off I think it is because she was late and liked having space to stretch into

We also coslept pretty much straight away.

I am using the Grobag swaddle blanket which is great, comes with pictures on how to wrap them on the side of the box, like swaddling for dummies which I needed! He really likes it for sleeps I find.

I swaddled for about 3 months, with a regular cot sheet. Fold one corner down into the middle of the blanket to make it the right shape and bingo.

DS2 was a bit of a whopper (9lb 12oz) so I highly doubt a muslin would have gotten around him, let alone held him tightly enough.

We used a cot blanket mostly, also one of DH's tshirts when it was hot- the arms made it a perfect shape.

The special swaddle-wrap was too stretchy and let his arms come out.

I used a cellular blanket but dd hated it. She would punch her way out. She went in a grobag as soon as she hit 9lb having been born at 8lb8. Couple of weeks max.

DS was swaddled for months, he loved it and was (still is) the greatest sleeper. I just used normal muslins until he grew out of them. Magic.

We had the Velcro cocoon type blankets. They got used for about 7 days when dd decided she MUST sleep with her arms out. Then we just used cellular blankets

Thanks Ladies - and Joyful in particular for the link.

Love the look of the Aiden and Anais muslins and this should suit when we get to Australia also.

Also checked out Faye and Lou Cozios as I love the bright colours...

We used the miracle blanket www.miracleblanket.com and I can attest to it being a miracle. We swaddled DS until he was 5 months, never once did he get out of it, never once did he try. He absolutely loved it and slept from 11pm - 5am from a week old. We only swaddled at night so that he understood that night time meant long sleep.

We swaddled from day 1 in the hospital and honestly never looked back. We live in the tropics (house is usually around 82oF) so pretty warm and I would just put a pamper on him and then swaddle. When I visited the UK in January, I put him in a sleeper, then swaddled and then added a warm blanket over the top.

I would highly recommend checking the reviews on amazon too, I loved the miracle blanket because it was really easy to use and I didn't have to worry about him breaking out, or velcro like you do with some others. I've swaddled him in large muslins too and they worked well, but he seemed to break out of them a little easier.

We used cot sheets and/ or cellular blankets for about a week, then switched to Grobags tbh.