Bigger Swaddle Wraps?

there is a great swaddle blanket by "Swaddle Designs". It is designed much bigger than most receiving blankets and it is very soft and thicker than most. There are so many really great colors and designs on the blankets which is a plus. They are sold everywhere! I see them in boutiques and baby sores and online and Nordstrom. They don't have any velcro tabs or special flaps, just a much bigger wrap especially good for bigger babies.

When my 8mo started wiggling out of her swaddlers, there was nothing that would keep her in, so I switched to a blanket sleeper instead. I love the Halo SleepSack so much, when she grew out of the newborn size, I bought her another one, and she still sleeps in it!

I have a couple Kiddopotamus swaddlers that are size Large (15-22lbs). I'm not sure what the length on it is cuz DD isn't in that size yet. I bought them at Babies R Us. The closest one to you would be in Lynnwood.

They have the Large size at Baby's r us, it fits kids up to 22lbs and it is pretty long. My older 3 month old boy is about 25 inches and fits in it just fine.

I had that problem with my daughter. I just sewed two receiving blankets together and wrapped her up like a burrito. Worked great for me and was low-cost.

I highly recommend Swaddle Designs. I believe they are a Seattle based company and you can find them online and also at Nordstrom. They are BIG swaddling blankets. My daughter had one of the kiddopotamus ones and it never kept her snug enough. The swaddle designs is a blanket, not a pre-sewn wrap, so you need to know the swaddling technique.

It could also be possible that your 3 month old is ready to move beyond the swaddling. According to Harvey Karp, the first three months are the baby's "fourth trimester" and swaddling is very effective, but after 3 months they might be ready for other means of soothing.

Good Luck!

L.,
I would invest in a miracle blanket, I think you have to purchase them online-they are worth every penny. They have a long wrap that can wrap around and are pretty long. We used them with both of our kids who needed to be swaddled. They can not get out of it. Typically you swaddle until about 3 months but both of our kids were swaddled until about 4 1/2. After that I would recommend a sleep sack.

L.,
At this age with my son he was doing the same thing and was also very long. I took the opportunity to ween him off of the swaddle as I have heard many moms say it was difficult as the baby got older. Maybe ask your doctor, but once my little one started unwrapping him self I let it go.

Hi L...

I think at this point I just figured rather than spend the money for my daughter I just weened her off. She actually took to it pretty well but then again she would always manage to find a way out the swaddle because she didn't like having her arms pinned down LOL!!

if your son is wiggling out of the swaddle blanket it's possible that it's time to give them up. what may be waking him up is the confinement of the blanket. most books reccomend only swaddling for the first three months. He needs to learn how to sleep withouot the swaddle anyway. I kept my second child swaddled for too long and then i had to ween her of it. Once she wasn't swaddled anymore she actually began to sleep longer. Good luck!

I swaddled my babies at that age (and up to 7-9 mths) in the Kiddopotomas wraps, but just left their bottom half out. I would wrap the upper part around their arms, it still had the same effect of holding their arms in and helping them sleep, and that way they weren't able to kick it open with their legs.

I also had good luck swaddling my daughter using the Amy Coe flannel blankets that are sold at Target - they are the perfect size, weight and texture (flannel naturally sticks together) for swaddling, and affordable at about 8.99. Good luck, swaddling was a lifesaver for us, I think it's worth it to keep it up as long as possible!

Hi L.:

I agree with the other posts about Swaddle Designs...they are wonderful, but a little expensive (around $26 or so). If you can sew one yourself, you'd be ahead of the game.

You might also try a double swaddle, that works for us. It pins our daughter's arms down, but allows her to kick her legs (that sounds aweful, but it works). We do just part-one of the double swaddle, then we zip her up into a Halo Sleeep Sack. It makes her feel cozy and secure, and she stays warm. Here is a link that does a pretty good job of describing how to do a double swaddle: http://toomuchbluesky.blogspot.com/2007/10/how-to-double-...

Also, I saw a large size Kiddopotamus at Babyies R Us in Lynnwood...has he outgrown those, too?

L.,

Neither of my children were very fond of being swaddled, so I'm not sure of what exactly you're talking about, but have you considered just wrapping him in a blanket? Of my two kids, my daughter was the one that tolerated that better than my son. When she was having a rough time falling asleep, we'd wrap her in a blanket like when she was in the hospital as tight as we felt was safe. Maybe it's time to move on to blankets to do the same thing?

Hope this helps,
Melissa

I had the same problem with my daughter when she was an infant. This time around I had my mom sew me some 42x 42 square flannel and thermal swaddles. They work great for the most part but now that he's getting stronger and older, 2 months... I think I may need new larger ones. Just go to Joann Fabrics and pick out some cute, inexpensive, lightweight fabric and sew (or have someone sew) large enough swaddles. I think I'll try 46x46 next time. I've also tried just placing him in only his onsie, swaddling in the lightest weight blanket possible and then putting him in the kiddopatamus. It's a little toasty so we shut the heat vent and keep the room super cool... this doesnt always work except for the late night, early morning hours when he's super sleepy anyways. Hope this helps!!!

J.

L.,

My daughter came out the size of a 3 month old so she was also too big for some of the wrap blankets. However, she wouldn't sleep without a good tight swaddle. We used a flannel blanket that was given to us but after looking for more, I found they were almost $30. SO...I went to the fabric store. A large square of any fire retardent flannel works great. You have to learn how to swaddle but as much as we did it, we got really good. We called her the baby burrito. We used it until she was almost 7 months old and wanted out on her own. I hope this helps.

Stick with the swaddling - it is a great help for sleep (his and yours ;)

I used flannel yardage and did quick rolled hems on my sewing machine. I have a friend that is not a sewer - she used pinking shears on the raw edges and that worked great for her and her son. This solution is MUCH cheaper than the blankets on the market and there are so many fun fabrics to choose from. I chose flannel for the softness and it's easy to throw in the washer. Another nice thing is that you can often find wider widths of fabric than you find for blankets on the market. As a side note, we swaddled our daughter with one and then both arms out for her to be able to self soothe. It still helped her sleep and keep snug. She has long since outgrown swaddling but we still use her sock monkey pattern swaddle as a light blanket and she loves the pattern.

Good luck!