How to Swaddle - Proper Swaddle Blanket is the key to Swaddling

As I said before there are many ways to swaddle but one of the most important things is to make sure you have a swaddle blanket that is large enough and grows with your child. This prevents them from being able to kick out of the swaddle. Once you have an adequate swaddle blanket the next step is making sure you know HOW to swaddle. The first way I am going to show you is the way the hospitals swaddle your baby. Here I used one of my oversized receiving blankets (which I brought to the hospital with me - the nurses gave me many compliments on the blankets). You can find them here http://www.etsy.com/shop/LullabyLovelies?section_id=7575659
The first thing I did was lay the blanket down on the ground like so:

Then fold it diagonally like this:

Place your baby in the middle of the blanket (feet down toward the point) with the shoulders just below or at the line of the blanket like so:

Take the left corner and tightly place it over your the right arm of your baby

Take the excess blanket and tuck it snugly under the back/butt so it looks like this

Now take the bottom point and fold it up over the legs and place it along the tucked in side

I like to then tuck some of that excess behind the back/butt so she does not kick it off. This makes it snug.

Place the left arm down to the side of your baby and cross the right side of the blanket across the baby like this

Finally continue to tuck the excess blanket around the back of the baby to create a snug fit leaving a swaddled baby looking like this

Now comes some sleep!

Why Swaddle?

With the arrival of our third child I am back into the world of swaddling. Swaddling is really just wrapping your baby tight in a blanket to provide comfort and a feeling closer to the womb. Why swaddle you ask? It often helps to calm and comfort a baby; which for us sleep deprived parents equates to better and longer sleep. There are different ways to swaddle a baby. I can't say that one way is better than another. The real trick is to try the different types of swaddling and see which your baby finds to be the most comforting. I will be posting different ways to swaddle your baby with pictures to show a couple different ways I have swaddled my children.