It's all about the swaddle

I have never really bought into the whole "Oh you gotta swaddle, swaddling keeps you sane, keeps them asleep, what you don't swaddle? Sacrilege!" dealio. Yeah, we swaddled Maddie... for a while... with receiving blankets. So, um, not for that long I suppose.

It always felt a little "straight-jacket" to me. I think I would go effing bonkers if I had to sleep pinned down like that. I'm very much an arms-above-the-head-at-all-times sleeper. (And yes, I get the whole, being pinned down, bunched in makes them feel like they were in the womb and that's cozy for them and inhibits the Moro reflex and yadda yadda yadda) (I'm not a rational thinker - don't you know this by now?)

And it doesn't help that Maddie (and now Katie) was an expert swaddle escape artist. It really didn't matter how tightly she was wrapped, she'd wiggle her arm out, start punching herself in the face, and LO and BEHOLD! Awake baby.

So, yeah, I was not so much into the swaddle...

Until I saw a post on a loverly blog I read regularly, Listen to Lena, who (amongst other things) posts various product reviews and cool deals to be had on the Interwebs. She had written a review about the HALO Sleepsack Swaddle and included a contest to win one. The swaddled pictures of her little one looked, tight, to say the least - so I figured, huh, let's enter this contest...

And guess who won?!!? Woot to the woo - yes indeedy, 'twas yours truly. (And I never win ANYTHING, so yes, I was a TITCH excited). And at the very least, even if the swaddle dealio didn't work out - because it's a removable attachment, I figured I at least had a sleepsack to use through the winter.

Well, my friends, the swaddle ROCKS THE CASBAH.... seriously. While it is more than a little straight-jacket-esque - that velcro is strong - she ain't moving baby. And because the other part is a sleepsack, you can do diaper changes without messing with the swaddle. Or you can undo the swaddle and just have the sleepsack part keeping her tootsies warm while she say.... nurses and bedshares in the early morning hours.

And guess who's sleeping for 5-7 hour stretches at night now*? Go Katie! Go Katie! Go! Go!

Needless to say - I'm a fan. Loving it. Loving the not worrying about her smothering herself with loose blankets, or being cold, or punching herself in the face and waking up anymore. Loving the SLEEP.

Thank you to HALO. And thank you to Lena ... seriously. Y'all have changed our lives over here.

xxoo.S

I think I'm supposed to put some kind of compensation disclaimer here? I dunno - I think I was pretty forthright about the fact that I tried the product because I won it in a contest. And because the product rocks some serious ass, I am recommending it. That legal enough for ya?

*As this has only been happening for the past 2 nights I expect I have just jinxed myself yet again and she will now stop sleeping altogether and force me into another round of sleep deprivation torture...