The History of the Amazing Swaddling A Baby Blanket When our first child was born, my wife and I found out how tough a colicky baby can be. For the first three months of his life, he spent most of his time screaming (seemingly in pain) and keeping us from sleep. My wife would stay up until I got home from work at 4:00 AM (I was a Casino Supervisor). I would then take over comforting him until she awoke at 8:00 AM or 9:00 AM. I would then go to bed and sleep until it was time to go to work in the evening. Those were the longest three months of our lives! We searched high and low for a remedy. In the end, three sleepless months was the only cure. When our second son was born we got lucky; he was happy. He began sleeping through the night within a couple of weeks. We assumed that it was because we were now “experienced parents” – our calmness and patience created the difference. We were very proud of ourselves. Then our third son was born. He wasn’t as tough as our first, but we knew right away we had a problem. But this time we were determined to find a solution. We’d kept the books from the first time around, so we dug them out and started reading up. Throughout our research we noticed some recurring themes: 1) Swaddling a baby is the most helpful ingredient in every effective calming method, 2) Holding your baby on your forearm, face-down (or face-forward) while rocking or jiggling him – gently – seems to enhance the calming effect and 3) Using a pacifier and making a loud shushing sound in his ear further adds to the effectiveness. We noticed right away that if all of these things were done at once, babies almost always calm down very quickly. So what was the problem?
Well, we quickly found that it was difficult (or nearly impossible) to bundle a baby in a way that keeps him snug all night during restless sleep with a normal, square receiving blanket. Many of our friends mentioned that their pediatricians suggested swaddling, but they too found it very difficult to do properly. They quickly became frustrated and gave up baby swaddle. One thing everyone agreed on was that no matter how well you swaddle them, babies seem to have an incredible ability to get at least one hand free to scratch their face right about the time you finally fall back to sleep. Additionally, if you watch your baby sleep, you’ll notice her twitching – often (this is called “The Moro Reflex”). If the baby is not wrapped snuggly, this twitching causes her arms to flail, which eventually wakes her up. However, like most parents, we didn’t feel comfortable using safety pins, Velcro, tape, belts, or straps while our baby was sleeping. We knew there had to be a better way, but there wasn’t! So one day, out of pure frustration, I went to the fabric store and bought a couple yards of high quality flannel and made a prototype of a blanket that was taking shape in my mind. I had my wife wrap our baby first with a quick explanation of how to do it. It took her a total of about 5 seconds. The baby loved it, and my wife looked at me and said, “WOW! I think we have something here!” We used the blanket until Jacob was just over 3 ½ months old. And he slept well every night. I then went about the task of finding anyone, anywhere, who had a baby that was less than 4 months old. I asked them to test the blanket for me. 100% of the people who tried it became very excited and impressed with its effectiveness and simplicity. I then knew, for sure, that I had to become an expert on swaddling – find all the pros and cons. One of the first things I realized is that there was an overwhelming amount of new research coming out in 2002 regarding swaddling and its benefits. Many pediatricians were beginning to publish studies proving the importance of swaddling.
And they all had one thing in common: They all mentioned how tough it is to do right. They called it an “art” or a “tradition” passed down from generation to generation … all of them made swaddling sound inconvenient and difficult. Then we really knew we were on to something! During my research I was able to find some different “swaddling” blankets but they all have several problems: many cover the head which increases the risk of overheating; many touch the cheeks which triggers the rooting response; many are simply “baby bags” that don’t give the snug sensation of real swaddling baby for sleep; many made the process of swaddling even more difficult with complex folds, arm pockets, adjustments for different size babies, buttons, Velcro or straps; and some designs bind the legs and hips no matter how big the baby grows which increases the risk of dysplasia (malformation of the joints). The Amazing Miracle Blanket eliminates all these concerns through the simplicity of its design. Getting from that point, through the testing and research stage, to where we are now is a long, boring story; but suffices to say we are incredibly happy to be able to help so many parents. We hope you absolutely LOVE The Amazing Miracle Blanket and would love to hear your feedback.
Call: 020 7193 6913 Email: arendthompson@tillyandjasper.com
Follow Us On: Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest