How to Swaddle Your Baby

There are many ways to swaddle your baby. When my 2nd child was born 7 weeks early, she spent 5 weeks in the hospital. This is how the NICU nurses swaddled her and I've found it to be the most effective way! We swaddled her for 8 months and she loved it!

Step 1: Lay your blanket out on a flat surface.

Step 2: Fold over the top edge about 3-4 inches. This will prevent the blanket from sliding around up by your baby's face.
Step 3: Lay your baby on the blanket with his shoulders just barely above the top of the blanket.

Step 4: Lay your babies right arm against his body, wrap one side of the blanket over the arm and across his body and tuck under his back.

Step 5: Lay your baby's left arm against his body, wrap the other side of the blanket over the arm and across his body and tuck under his back.

If it's warmer weather and you don't want your baby to have too many layers on, you can stop here. Just tuck the extra blanket at the bottom under your baby's feet. If you want extra warmth, continue on with the next steps.

Step 6: Take the bottom part of the blanket and pull it out flat.

Step 7: Lay the bottom part of the blanket over the top of your baby.

Step 8: Tuck the edges underneath his body and your little baby will be as snug as a bug in a rug!

As your baby gets older and may not want their arms in the blanket, you can swaddle him around the chest and leave his arms out.

*Thanks so my little guy, Noah, for being such a willing model. For reference, he is 6 months old. And these blankets still fit him wonderfully! To you purchase your own, Extra Large Receiving Blanket, check out my website!

My first Tutorial - Self-Binding Blankets

I just finished writing my first tutorial and am selling it in PDF format on my Etsy website. It is for a Self-Binding Blanket. They have been my favorite item to make ever since I first learned how. I've had several people ask me how to make them and I found it was pretty difficult to explain, so I thought I would do a tutorial so that people can see how they are made. The tutorial has photographs throughout it to show the different steps. It is easy to follow and would be great for a beginner. It was definitely a different experience going from making the blankets to teaching how they are made. I hope it goes over well in my etsy shop.