When it comes to swaddling, it’s important to wrap your baby the correct way. There are two types of swaddling blankets to consider — the traditional and the more modern, easy-to-use swaddles. With traditional swaddling blankets, you must make sure no extra fabric is around your baby’s face or neck and leave enough room around the torso and legs, allowing them to move freely — including into a baby’s natural “frogs legs” position.
It is also important to consider what to wear under a swaddle blanket, for both traditional and easy-to-use swaddling blankets, as babies cannot fully regulate their body temperature.
Want to know more about swaddle wraps? Take a look at our in-depth blog, highlighting everything you need to know about swaddling blankets.
Traditional Swaddle Blankets
Traditional swaddle blankets are simply large blankets that can be wrapped in a special way to contain your baby safely, creating a womb-like sleeping environment. It is important that parents ensure the material used is breathable, such as cotton. There is a specific method to turning a normal blanket into a swaddle blanket, and below is a step-by-step guide to creating a traditional swaddle blanket for your baby:
Instructions for Traditional Swaddle Wraps:
- Spread out the swaddle blanket on a flat surface, arranged so that the corners match the points of a compass.
- Fold-down what would be the “northern” point to meet the centre.
- Carefully place the baby in the centre so that their shoulders align with the top edge of the blanket.
- Hold the baby’s arms by their side as you fold the right-hand corner over and tuck underneath the baby.
- Fold the bottom above to rest upon the baby's legs — but leave plenty of space at the bottom so that their legs and hips can move completely naturally and freely.
- Hold the other arm down into place by their side and carefully fold the left corner around and tuck around the right of the baby.
- Double-check there is no fabric around the baby’s neck or head.
Easy-To-Use Swaddle Blankets
Easy-to-Use swaddling blankets take the guesswork out of swaddling, making them a quicker and simpler way to comfort your baby. They can also help achieve longer, deeper sleep. You won’t need to fold any parts of the swaddle blanket over in a corner before starting, as they are specially designed to fit your baby perfectly. This type of swaddle is created using a “T” shaped blanket, with small flaps fastened with velcro. Little Seeds offer this style of super-easy swaddling blanket in organic cotton, which is feather-soft to the touch and perfectly breathable for your baby.
Instructions for Easy-To-Use Swaddle Blankets:
- Open the swaddle into a “T” shape and place your baby's legs inside the bottom pouch.
- Place the shoulders in line with the top of the open wrap and lift the front velcro flap.
- Fold the left side over and fix to the velcro on the middle tab.
- Fold the right side over and attach the two tabs to the velcro.
- Adjust to fit your baby, ensuring enough space is left for kicking legs and that the middle is not too tight.
For a visual guide on how to wrap an Easy-to-Use swaddle blanket, you can watch Little Seed’s swaddling blanket "how-to" video. Alternatively, read our easy-to-use swaddling instructions with accompanying photographs.
Feather-soft organic cotton, suitable for ages 0-3 months and age 3-6, Little Seeds’ easy-to-use swaddles come in packs of three — get yours now and say hello to soothing sleep for you and your little one.
