Hello, hello!  Just a tiny bit hard to look at this picture of Marielle (now 4 years old!)  without yearning for #6!  Deep breath…

In the first few weeks of your baby’s life, it is recommended that you swaddle your baby when he or she is put down to sleep, in order to simulate the mother’s womb: safe, snug, and warm.  It’s a fairly easy thing to do when your newborn is tiny, because they don’t move around too much and are content to have their arms stuck to their sides.  But over time, your baby will want to break out of that initial swaddle.  For babies that sleep better with a swaddle, this poses a challenge: do you just forego the swaddle all together, or is there another interim swaddle you can use?

Well, in my experience, YES.  One thing I began to do with all my babies was what I call “The Double Swaddle.”  If you are interested in learning more, read on and watch today’s video for a demo.

How to Double Swaddle

When you’re using the double swaddle, you’ll need two burp cloths. My favorite, as I’ve already shared in many of my videos, is the hospital burp cloth! Once you’ve folded the burp cloth lengthwise, you’ll lay your baby down on top of it. If you’re swaddling with the arms-in, this second cloth will band around their upper arms. On the other hand, if you’re swaddling with the arms-out, you’ll be placing this second cloth around their torso, leaving the baby’s busy arms free for movement and finger or thumb sucking, as you see Marielle doing in this photo.  That’s a real developmental stage as this self-soothing can allow your baby to sleep for much longer stints at night.  So for me, I found the double swaddle to be great way to keep baby cuddled and content and yet moving on to get to the next stage.  For more tips on how to double swaddle a baby, stay tuned!

Did you swaddle your little one and what swaddling techniques did you rely on? Let me know in the comments below – I would love to hear what you have to say!