Swaddle = Life I have recently had the pleasure of accepting the newly appointed role as “Dad” in this world. My approach to transitioning to this new role has primarily been a “learn as you go” approach. I at least made sure to get the basics down prior like, “don’t shake your baby”, and how to practice “safe sleeping.” I quickly realized by day two that if there was one thing I had to learn and do well, it was to swaddle. My Current Life’s Satisfaction Equation Swaddle like a pro = Baby Sleeps like pro = Everyone Sleeps... period = Life Boil that down and you have: Swaddle like pro = Life Let’s rewind for a second. There we were midnight of day two, maybe 3 hours of sleep in 72 hours as new parents in a hospital room with you guessed it, a hysterically crying baby. After many attempts at swaddling, we successfully cloaked the little guy and were left thinking all was good on the swaddle end and the poor little guy needed more food, attention, or just to let it all out. In walks a nurse in angel form, yes looks and all.... emitting a sweet and confident aura, she asked if we’d like her to take the baby for a little bit. He needed some tests done anyways, but we gladly handed the guy over. Two hours later we found ourselves waking up to what seemed like a full eight hour nap. Baby comes in and of course , baby is sound asleep. The nurse said, "oh my gosh, he is soooo lovely and such a sweetheart". I couldn’t help to think wtf... What the hell did she do that we can’t do on our own?!?” I followed by “seriously, you are an angel, give us all your powers... at least the ones we need to get this baby to sleep”. She spent the next 30 minutes with us teaching and answering all my craft questions eventually getting to the point the majority of the conversation came down to, which was the importance of the swaddle. Boiling it down to words of advice in Dad form... 1. Swaddle size and material matters - Get a Copper Pearl. $50 is nothing when it comes to your sleep. 2. Swaddle hard. If you find yourself thinking you are swaddling too tight or may be uncomfortably tight, your swaddle game is weak bro... 3. Technique is everything. I would recommend two types of swaddle methods... both achieve full straight jacket worthy nuggets wrapped to their satisfaction. - Novice: Deploy the Batman “Batwing” swaddle method (https://youtu.be/sYQDAvTp4MA & below) using one swaddle to straight jacket the arms at the baby’s side and tuck the excess in and put another swaddle to wrap around the baby. - Expert: one copper pearl swaddle using the advanced “Moms On Call” method. Yes, these moms and their youtube swaddle video was well worth every second I diagnosed of it (https://youtu.be/RhsYw61ZsO8 & below). 4. Check yo Swaddle before you wreck yo swaddle Foo! After you got the little guy or gal swaddled, they are likely not happy with you, simply put. Hold the baby out with both hands & palms up in front of you and either make circles or do some bicep curls. If baby doesn’t quiet down in a few moments... Check yo Swaddle bro... Also, if the baby can bring their arms toward their face or can move them at all really... Check yo Swaddle bro...
The time we achieved swaddle pro status was the same time we achieved new parent sleep pro status. I am aware every baby is different, this was my experience and this was truly a game changer for us when we finally figured out the ways of the swaddle almost a week into having a new born (yes, it took a week to learn, and more importantly get it right!). I highly recommend all dads and moms question and seriously consider their swaddle game status before they jump to conclusion and assume they are simply in for the joys of raising a colicky baby... Swaddle up bros...
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