"The burrito"

Little did Danielle and I know when we sat thru pre-natal class that one of the topics would be so very important. The instructor was talking about the 5 S's - of which I cannot even remember all of them at this point - but I do remember the most important one: SWADDLE.

Without that little nugget we would be up a creek without the paddle. Our little boy seems to only sleep well when his arms are securely tucked to his sides and he cannot move. The above picture tells the story - when he is snuggled tight into his little swaddler he sleeps well, without it not so much.

We found this out the hard way our first night at home as he screamed most of the night with his arms flailing and his legs kicking. The next night we wrapped him up like a burrito and he slept for 3-4 hour stretches. The comical thing is that when he is crying and we wrap him up you can hear him make little noises of satisfaction as we wrap him up and usually he quits crying within about 10 seconds.

We also found out that having a 9lb newborn means that he is stronger than the average newborn. The first 2 swaddlers that we wrapped him in had flimsy velcro and he ripped those off within a few seconds with no trouble. The one he is wearing in the picture has some heavy duty velcro and it keeps him wrapped most of the time. We also have "The Miracle Blanket" from Mimi Gwen that we still need to figure out how to use correctly. This will come in handy during the summer as it is a lot thinner. Not sure how long we will need to utilize this tactic to get him to sleep well but we are sure thankful to have it!