How to Swaddle Baby - Baby-Gami!

At Polka Dot Whale, we've got the cutest little gifty book, Baby-Gami: Baby Wrapping for Beginners.  Darling photos throughout depict methods of baby swaddling that are sure to make you smile.  Baby Wrapping & Swaddling is pretty important business when new parents bring home their newborn baby, so the Baby-Gami may be just the thing to inspire them to get a little practice before the time comes!

Swaddling baby: At our house, the answer to helping our little one sleep snug as a bug is definitely to SWADDLE her.  Our baby girl sleeps beautiful during the night, but she is sure to let us know if her swaddle goes awry!  Its usually an arm and occasionally a leg (or two) that breaks free from her nearly fool-proof swaddle and either way its trouble.  Emme prefers to slumber in a tightly wrapped swaddle.  Daddy and I learned our particular method of swaddling from our Happiest Baby on the Block class. 

Our favorite night-time swaddling blanket is the Ultimate Receiving Blanket by Swaddle Designs.  We LOVE them so very much that we have 3 (it takes that many to rotate through until baby laundry day rolls around) and sell them at Polka Dot Whale for the super-fabulous price of just $24.95!

Below you'll find step-by-step baby swaddling photo directions on how to wrap your little one up tight!    This also known as the DuDu method (Down, Up, Down, Up).

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Step 7:  Enjoy your happy swaddled baby!

According to wikipedia, "Swaddling is an age-old practice of wrapping infants snugly in swaddling cloths, blankets or similar cloth so that movement of the limbs is tightly restricted. Swaddling bands were often used to further restrict the infant.

A modified form of swaddling is still popular today as a means of settling and soothing irritable infants. The lengthy swaddling cloths of mediaeval Madonna and Child paintings are now replaced with receiving blankets or flannelette sheets. The confinement is supposed to provide warmth and security for a baby who has recently left the womb. Today, many midwives swaddle infants soon after birth and it is now a standard newborn care practice in many hospitals.

Some medical studies maintain that swaddling appears to be a positioning technique that can enhance neuromuscular development of the very low birth weight infant and that it might have a role in further lowering SIDS risk.  Research has also found that swaddling helps infants sleep with fewer awakenings and stay in REM sleep longer"