Note: This is not a sponsored post. As always, all opinions here are my own.
My last post got me thinking about when my girls were so little, which led me to think about all the crap we had for them. We still have lots of crap now, but it is more like toy crap and less like baby supply crap. Back when our house was filled with baby supply crap, we spent SO MUCH time at Babies R Us. I am talking every week! Between diapers, wipes, Diaper Genie refills, baby gear, clothes and of course upgrading to bigger sizes of all those things, I swear the staff there recognized us.
It was on one of these trips to Babies R Us that I discovered the Summer SwaddleMe Swaddler. I think back then, the brand was Kiddopotamus, but it must have been bought out by the Summer company. When I saw it on the shelf, I am pretty sure I remember a golden light shining down on it and angels singing. A little preface:
In the hospital, the nurses showed us how to swaddle Josie with the hospital-issued receiving blankets. My husband Dan watched this process once, maybe twice, and was convinced he had it down. So was I. To make a long story short, if at that time we were to participate in a Swaddle-Off, I would have been soundly defeated every time. Dan was excellent at swaddling, which pissed me off to no end, because I sucked. It took me forever, Josie fussed most of that time, and when I was done I would stand up to admire my work and before I had returned to a fully vertical position, Josie would have busted out of her swaddle and given me a dry look that said, "Really, mom? Weak."
FAIL
FAIL
CLOSE ENOUGH
Meanwhile, Dan swaddled her in half the time with half the effort, she cooed sweetly during the process, and she was wrapped tighter than a burrito at a Mexican food truck (great, now I'm hungry). As much as I was happy for Dan that he could pull it off, I was also mad at him that I could not. Yep. Mad at him.
So when I saw that SwaddleMe swaddler on the Babies R Us shelf, it wasn't just a swaddler, it was an answer to my prayers. It was a great equalizer for me; my lack of prowess in the swaddling department would become a moot point with this bad boy, swaddling would no longer be a skill I could not use on my parenting resume and my status as "Competent Mom" would be restored. If the thing worked.
I bought just one, because they aren't too cheap and I wasn't sure if it would work. I chose the green cotton (retails for $12.99) and took it home with visions of me snatching the blue ribbon for parenting right out of Dan's hand. (I'm just a little competitive.)
The SwaddleMe did not disappoint! At first when I took it out of the package, I was like WTF because it's just a tangle of panels and velcro tabs. But thankfully (for the spatially-challenged like me), it comes with instructions. Yes, instructions. And yes, they helped. Once you have it laid out, even brains like mine can see how the baby goes in. Just a couple steps later -- voila -- bundled baby.
Beat THAT Dan
The fabric of the cotton is like a very soft, durable t-shirt, perfect for summer nighttimes. It comes in your standard colors -- pink, blue, green and white -- and a couple patterns, too. They also have an organic cotton line with various gender-neutral colors and patterns. At one time, we tried a lighter, flimsier fabric that they carried at the time, but it wasn't as good; I think the fabric was too light to really make the baby feel swaddled, and Josie wriggled around inside it and never settled down. (I haven't seen that fabric since they were bought out by the Summer company.) They also have a fleece line which we LOVED, since we lived in Boston at the time and it could get cold at night.
Caroline wasn't as keen on being swaddled as Josie was, but she liked the SwaddleMe sans arm confinement:
And as Josie grew bigger, she liked this variation, too:
So as you can see, we got a lot of mileage out of the Summer SwaddleMe blankets. I have bought them for friends who have had babies, and I saved our old ones in case we ever have another (somewhere, Dan just had a sudden, unexplained heart palpitation). Some babies of course can't tolerate a swaddle, but I have never met a baby who doesn't like a blanket when he or she is cold, so you could always use the SwaddleMe without arms, like we did with Caroline. It is a little expense up front to stock up on a few of these, but I can't exclaim enough about how it's so worth it... my kids were more comfortable which meant I was sleeping better, both because they were not waking up chilly and because I had peace of mind with regard to their safety, knowing the SwaddleMe would stay in place and not end up over their face like a traditional blanket can. Plus, Dan could no longer throw in my face the fact that I sucked at swaddling. Worth every penny.
I noticed that Summer is also now making the Summer SwaddlePod. This appears to be a zip-up, super tight and cozy swaddle system meant for newborns up to 10 lbs. I haven't seen these in person but they look pretty cool, too!
Now that baby looks happy! (image credit)
Bottom Line: thumbs way up for the Summer SwaddleMe!! Check them out on the Summer website, at Babies R Us or at Amazon -- they have a 2-pack of SwaddleMe swaddle blankets for $19.99 - a great deal!
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