We’ve never really been able to swaddle either Pickle when
she was young, or Peanut now. Both of
them have slept from Day 1 with their arms over their heads as if they were
being placed under arrest – and if you tried to swaddle their arms to keep them
in place, they fight their way out and into the same pose.
So, I was a little skeptical to ever try the Aden + Anais muslin
swaddling blankets. Spending between $35
and $50 for four blankets that I wouldn’t use as designed seemed a little
silly. With Pickle, I avoided purchasing
them – I just worked with the Carters and Gerber flannel and thermal blankets
we had. We just made a little baby burrito
of her with those (keeping her arms out).
It worked, even if it was a little overly thick and bulky.
It was sort of a pain, though, and they seemed a little too
warm for this past summer for our new arrival.
So, I decided to pull the trigger and buy some of the “Aden” line of
Aden + Anais blankets. (LINK)
I washed them before Peanut was born, and started to fold
them. I was amazed at how big the
blankets were in comparison to the blankets we’d used with Pickle – they were
about twice the size. They were also very
soft – the muslin was breathable but soft to the touch.
We started making our baby burrito of Peanut the day he got
home – unlike with the flannel and thermal blankets, we were able to use just
one blanket to accomplish the job. He
was warm and cozy, and didn’t lose body heat, but he also didn’t overheat like
he might have if we’d used the same blankets we had before. I was also amazed at how handy these were as
a nursing cover, due to their size. I
used one in church, and the usher had no idea I was even feeding Peanut.
I also keep one of the four in the diaper bag all of the time. This came in handy when we were getting Peanut's newborn photos done - I had the swaddler laid out on the floor for a diaper change, and our photographer thought it would make a great addition to some of our photos.
I became an Aden + Anais convert. I’ve since purchased them for two friends as
shower gifts because they’re one of those things that you might hesitate to buy
yourself, but that is indispensible once you own it. I think that our little man will likely be
using his Aden blankets as loveys long after he uses them as an actual blanket. I think my only problem now is that I'm not sure I'm saying "Anais" right - and there are some ways to get it really, really wrong.
