Anyone tried a swaddling blanket?

[Jane7]

Wondering if it's worth investing, as an alternative to sheets and blankets for a newborn. I have some grobags but they look too big for a newborn - they are 0-3 and 0-6 months.

Grobags are brilliant but they won't swaddle. I used swaddling blankets (still have them if you are interested) and thought they were fab. Both ds1 and ds2 slept really well being swaddled.

Yes. And I continue to use them with 14 month old DD - not as "alternative" to sheets, but "instead of" sheets as a swaddle blanket is just a warm sheet IYSWIM

feeling lucky - hmmm, don't think i do understand. do you need to use sheets in a moses basket if you're using a swaddle blanket?

beansprout - very interested, what do you propose? i'm in london, where are you?

I had a swaddling blanket for ds (who was a terrible wriggler so regular sheets were a no-no) and it was one of the best purchases ever! Pay no heed to those who say it is a waste of money. They are great!

we swaddled DD when in moses basket, but before we learned how to do it, we used the swaddle blanket as a sheet (ie tucked sheet under moses mattress.) Then we moved on to grobags when she got bigger.

We still use swaddle blankets as a normal blanket (ie when in car and we want to put something over her) or when in pram.

We bought swaddle blanket from `john lewis, so it is just a normal blanket, not the type with velcro bits on.

hope that's more clear

I'm in NW London. I have 2 Jojo Maman swaddling blankets.

here

£8 for them both?

This was the one we used

I think we paid a wee bit less though. But found it excellent.

beansprout - sounds good. if you don't mind me asking, how clean are they? if they were seriously stained, i might pass on the offer and get new ones

They aren't stained . I got them nearly new and used them for a few weeks so they are in good condition.

brilliant. how shall we do it? how exciting. never done a mumsnet deal before... who does what? i can send you a cheque...

I used a normal jersey sheet that was big enough to swaddle and sort of tuck in, securely. By the time she was big enough to wriggle out of it she didnt need to be swaddled. I say she, because this only worked on my oldest. Ds1 wouldnt settle in any situation unless he was held and rocked forever and ds2 hated being held and restricted when he was tired and just wanted to be left alone .. god knows what this one will be like!

Do you want to e-mail me at sproutingbean at hotmail dot com?

We're using miracle blankets for swaddling and DS is happy with them. I too have grobags for 0-6 months (1 tog for now and 2.5 for winter) but they are huge!

I would have loved to have swaddled my DD but the poor girl must have been so squashed in my womb (she was very large and I'm very small) that she came out and put her arms straight up and they only came down when she wanted milk - weird but true. She would not let me swaddle her. I have 2 lovely brand new swaddling blankets but expecting no.2 so may well use them.

Get one and then see if your baby likes it. I used these lovely soft sheets (with pretty patterns on) to wrap the baby us while in the moses basket and put a blanket on top if cold. However, DD qA so large that she only lasted in moses basket for 6 weeks then she was put in a grobag in the cot.

We got these ones from bumpto3. Easy to use, and very cute.

Have tried all sorts of different things to swaddle DD, but what she really loves is a towel. Seems to be the right weight and give to make her feel secure. Works really well when she's tired or colicky.

Yes, towel works really well, in fact when DD was born midwife swaddled her in a towel because we couldn't find our special swaddling blanket.