Best Newborn Swaddle to Help Baby Sleep Through the Night

Can a good newborn swaddle help you and your baby to sleep more? Yes! The newborn swaddle is an essential part of many parents' sleep and nap routine during the first few months with their newborn. They are usually introduced to the technique before the baby even leaves the hospital: nurses tightly wrap newborns to help simulate the closeness and intimacy of the womb.

New parents can expect to wake up two or even three times (or more!) per night during the early weeks; for many, even getting an extra 20 or 30 minutes of sleep throughout the night can lead to increased levels of alertness and happiness. The newborn swaddle can help some babies achieve restful sleep for longer periods of time--what parent with a newborn wouldn't like that?

Intro photo credit: Footloosiety on Flickr. All other photos by the Author, all rights reserved.

If you're seeking information about newborn swaddles, then chances are your little one is waking multiple times per night.

My son was born five weeks early, and from the minute I delivered, every light and sound would disturb him as he was wasn't prepared yet to be in this world. He seemed very uncomfortable when he was laid in his crib; he would writhe and scream uncontrollably. The nurses quickly showed us their version of the "newborn burrito" by wrapping him up tightly in a blanket, turning our crying baby into a contented one, right before our eyes. Could it really be so easy, to help him with just a newborn swaddle?

It was, for the first two or three weeks at home. But soon, as my born-premature-yet-very-large baby got a bit bigger and stronger, he'd quickly wiggle his way out of his swaddle and wake up screaming. I needed something to contain him--it was especially important for him to feel secure since he was a preemie--and the blankets just weren't cutting it anymore.

This amazing swaddler looks like a very odd contraption once it's unfolded--it definitely does not look like a typical newborn swaddle. But, it's easy and it works!

Could this Newborn Swaddle Help?

The Miracle Blanket doesn't look like your typical swaddle blanket. It has a pouch where the legs go, and little "flaps" on the inside which basically pin the arms to the side. That is what is the beauty of this swaddle--the weight of your baby keeps these flaps in place, since you wrap them over the arms and then tuck the fabric under your baby. This combined with the blanket wrapped around him prohibits any major movement. As soon as he starts to fidget or have that startle reflex, he is immediately calmed.

Prior to using this newborn swaddle, our evening typically went like this:

9:00 p.m.: Bedtime

Midnight: Awake for a feed

3:00 a.m.: Awake for a feed

6:00 a.m.: Awake for a feed

Yes, this is very typical for a newborn. But at about four weeks old, we noticed he was still waking around midnight--sometimes a little before or sometimes a little after--but he'd refuse food. He wasn't hungry at this point, but because he loosened his blanket and worked his hands free he was awake. And by awake, I mean AWAKE. It would take up to an hour to get him back to bed, and by the time that occurred (and then WE put ourselves back to sleep), we only had about 30 minutes of sleep before he woke up again, this time truly hungry.

It's simple. If we could eliminate the midnight waking and get our baby to sleep from 9 p.m. to about 2 a.m., we would be able to get five glorious hours of straight sleep ourselves. He already proved that he wasn't waking to eat, so we didn't have to worry that he was hungry.

My son was never a terrible sleeper--by some standards, waking up twice per night at four or five weeks old would constitute a great sleeper. I admit, it could definitely have been much worse. But, like every new parent, I wanted more sleep. Since he was capable of sleeping longer, I took advantage of this newborn swaddle to get it!

Basic beige certainly isn't the only color this product comes in -- you can find it in a rainbow of colors below. I opted for beige because I wanted it to be gender-neutral in case we had another; yellow or green could've been a good option for me, too.

Learn how simple it is to use the best newborn swaddle. As this is a demonstration, it's pretty slow--I was able to wrap him in 5 seconds flat after the first time trying it.

It could. But not everything works for every baby. I'd say to give it a try--it probably won't make things worse, especially if you have been swaddling with blankets. Some don't react well if they've gone weeks or months without a swaddle and then are forced into one, so do consider that before deciding.

Be wary of claims that any product can take your baby from getting up multiple times to sleeping straight through the night immediately. This newborn swaddle did help us, but it's not like we were able to sleep like normal adults again. Slowly, he got better and better about sleeping longer, and by about nine weeks, he was only waking up once. And, for those that are wondering, he finally slept through at sixteen weeks (and boy, did life get a lot better after that started happening!).