Sleeping and Miracles

We've swaddled The Bean since he was practically brand new. We started off with the traditional blanket swaddle, but he outgrew our blankets pretty quickly. Plus, I never was very good at origami and it showed in my swaddling technique.

The Bean in one of my swaddles

From there, we moved onto the Halo brand sleep sacks with swaddles and I thought they were a step up from the blankets. But, the velcro on the swaddles was a mixed blessing. It kept him swaddled more tightly, however when I scooped him up to nurse, the velcro would chew up whatever skin it came into contact with...stomach, side, nipples.

Ouch.

So, we unswaddled him to nurse and then swaddled him back up afterwards which was disruptive. The swaddles worked though, so we went with it.

Between months two and three Ollie was a regular Rip Van Winkle (or maybe Sleeping Beauty) and natch we thought we were the best parents in the world getting him to go down around six p.m. and sleep all the way through until four a.m. What were these sleep troubles that other parents spoke of? Maybe we could give them a little lesson.

(Well, hello there Pride. Are you going to teach us a thing or two?)

When he turned three months old reality decided to give us a slap in the middle of the night. Well, more like several slaps. One in the beginning of the night, one in the middle of the night, and another in the wee hours of the morning. It was like our guy was reverting back to a newborn waking up every two to three hours. Ugh.

I guess we weren't super-parents after all.

So, there he was waking up constantly. Busting out of the velcro. Kicking himself awake. Running laps in his co-sleeper. Busting out of the velcro again. And keeping Allison and me from getting anything resembling a decent night of sleep.

After a couple of weeks we needed to take action. This couldn't keep happening. Allison was exhausted at work. I wasn't much better at home.

Then I remembered a friend suggesting the Miracle Blanket. We checked them out online and they were pricey compared to other swaddles (including the Halo), but this particular friend had come through with some helpful suggestions in the past, so we bit.

The first night, we learned why "miracle" was in the name.

The Bean chllin' in his Miracle Blanket

He went down within minutes. I could nurse him and put him back in his co-sleeper bassinet without getting scratched by velcro and without having to move him all around. He didn't kick. He didn't fight to get his arms free.

It really WAS a miracle.

The Bean is back to going down around six or seven and only waking up one time during the night, usually between one and three o'clock.

Thank you Miracle Blanket.

Now, what do you have for teething?

Quick PS - We still like the Halo swaddle and use it for The Bean's daytime naps, but if I could only use one it would be the Miracle Blanket.
We also didn't get any sort of compensation for this post, but if someone from Miracle Blanket wants to send us another, we won't object. :-)