Miracle Blanket vs. HuggaBebe?

[dotgirl]

We're torn between getting a miracle blanket (http://www.miracleblanket.com) and a HuggaBebe (http://www.huggabebe.com), and I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts/opinions/experiences?

Our baby is due in early November, so warmth is a concern to us, and I like the swaddling idea. However, I'm not sure about buying a blanket that's *only* used for swaddling if we don't know yet that he'll put up with it. Which is the nice thing about the HuggaBebe - it's a swaddler and a sleepsack. I'm concerned that if we get the miracle blanket, we'll wind up buying a halo sleep sack anyway, which would mean the HuggaBebe would be a better deal.

But the miracle blanket is so much cuter.

So! Help? Please?

[Momof3Labs]

Or you could just go to the fabric store and buy a yard and half of flannel, and hem the edges - for about $6 you would have a great swaddling blanket! We never needed any of these special, expensive swaddlers - the big flannel blankets worked just fine.

[stillplayswithbarbies]

My baby hated being swaddled. So you might want to try it with receiving blankets first before you buy something fancy.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[dotgirl]

I don't sew, and so the expense of having to buy a sewing machine just to hem the edges would far outweigh the expense of a $30 baby blanket. ;)

(I've thought of buying a sewing machine, but I've finally accepted the fact that I just wouldn't use it enough for it to be useful to me. And the person I used to occasionally borrow one from to hem has moved out of state, sadly. :( )

[Chereya]

I ordered the HuggaBebe and my baby is due in November, too. It's hard ordering stuff online, especially for a baby whose taste and quirks you're unaware of yet. But it seemed like a neat idea and item so I took the plunge. $50 did seem expensive and the only way I'll know if it was worth it or not is after baby is born!

I ordered mine back in July and they were out of stock on the fabric/style I wanted (newer style). But they had a notice on the web site that they were in the process of sewing up a new batch and they also sent me an email asking if I wanted to wait for my order or cancel it. It was shipped as previously promised on 8/20/03 and I just received it on 8/25/03. It came with a color print out showing 4 different ways you could use the HuggaBebe with your baby.

Overall it's good quality fabric and sewing. It's cute, the velcro is very fine textured and soft. Running your fingers across it, you can't tell that velcro really is a bunch of tiny hooks. It feels more like the reflective patches you use for bicyclists. It was designed with some ingenious extra flaps and tucks so that the arm holes can be covered up and baby can be snuggled up to his/her neck. There are also slits (well sewn) through which you pass your harness straps between baby's legs so they can be safely strapped into car seat, carrier or stroller.

For those who say their baby doesn't like to be swaddled, I think this is actually a better "try me" alternative to blanket swaddling. With a blanket, you HAVE to wrap baby up tight or it will all come undone. With the flexiblity of all these velcro dots, you have a range between loose and tight. It's not an either or proposition where it's either a loose sleep sack or a tight swaddler. You can leave as much room as your baby wants.

I'm looking forward to trying it out. :)

Chereya

[amyinNC]

Our son will only stay swaddled in the miracle blanket. We've tried several others - along with square flannel blankets (although not the HuggaBebe) - and the miracle blanket truly works. With anything else, he spent all his energy fighting his way out. With the miracle blanket, he initially fought a bit, then found he couldn't get out - and now just relaxes as soon as he's in it.

I've even tried making miracle blanket copies. I bought my own flannel, used a very similar design, but of course, didn't infringe upon the owners patent that's pending, (so no need for him to pursue litigation as he suggests on his site : ) ) None of my copies work as well as the original. We'd buy another, but they are so dang expensive - and I keep thinking we have only a few more weeks of swaddling left. The one we have is pretty trashed with nearly daily washings.

Swaddling has been found to help babies sleep longer - so I highly recommend you give it a try. Babies will fuss sometimes the first couple of times you try - especially if they aren't tight enough. But, once you get it down, most babies love it!

Good luck!
Amy
mom to Andrew (7/9/2003)

[akc]

Hi -

We were DIE HARD believers in swaddling - if you are unsure, read The Happiest Baby On the Block for more reassurance. A lot of times people give up on swaddling b/c they think their babies get out of it (when it's probably not snug enough) or they won't sleep or don't like it. My DD stayed swaddled until 7 months old - she loved it! She would settle down and knew it was time for naps or sleep. She was an ANGEL baby, and we credit following The Happiest BAby and the swaddling - at 3 months through today, she sleeps 13 hours a night (6:30 pm - 7:30 am) and has no problem with naps. Maeve was even on tv (FOX in Washington DC) with Dr. Karp b/c we really felt it gave us a wonderful infancy with no uncontrollable crying.

Anyway, we went through about 20 blankets, and it was especially hard b/c it was summer and we didn't want to use a flannel blanket. I do NOT recomment those cotton weave blankets (biggest made by Simmons) - they stretch easily and the baby can wiggle arms out. Dr. Karp recommends the SwaddleMe blanket and sells one of his own. We used the one he sells (though it was different then) and we found it to stay snug and worked all the way through 7 mos. You can see them on his site - www.happiestbaby.com

Neither of these blankets were out then, but I'll give you my reactions as a swaddling veteran for what that's worth. The MiracleBlanket looks better than the HuggaBebe b/c of it's size and purpose. It is clearly designed for swaddling and is small - a newborn is TINY and you want your swaddle to prevent limbs from escaping. The only thing I'll warn you is that you will have to unwrap to change diapers, and that means you'll be pulling the babies legs up and out of that pocket everytime. That said, it will really do the swaddling job. The HuggaBebe looks too big and loose to me - a lot of excess fabric for a newborn b/c of it's multiple purposes - if it can go 0 to 9 months, it won't likely hold the baby tight at 1 week. I think it looks like a great "weaning" tool from swaddling - when we unswaddled, we weaned her to a loose swaddle, then a baglike option (arms in, but free), then arms out with a bag, then whole body free - took about a month total but now she sleeps with nothing. Those little decorative ties are not for swaddling, in my opinion - they are to look pretty. When you swaddle, you are pulling the baby tight and tucking it in or almost tieing it to make a secure bundle.

So, all in all, I'd get a miracle blanket - and may just very well since our #2 is due in February. I like the SwaddleMe as well and still have our Dr. Karp blanket, so that's lots of options. If you want to really see how to swaddle, I recommend the Dr. Karp video - swaddling is a skill and it's not just a decorative little wrap. You may be squeamish now, but I promise you, it is natural to babies and it is so wonderful for their sleeping and security. Plus, no worries about SIDS!

Wow - didn't mean for this to be so long, but I feel passionate about swaddling and the products out there. Write back if you have any questions - hope this helps!

Alexa

[akc]

p.s. Of all the expenses, I would not worry about spending on things that are important to sleeping and safety/SIDS. Swaddle early and then go to the Halo sleep sack if you need to. Save on wipes and diapers and other things where you will buy a million of them and don't need to spend ridiculous amounts. Or, save on silly pads that vibrate or other "gimmicky" sleep things. Sleep and safety will become THE #1 focus in those first 3 months, and you'll be happy if you feel comfortable.

p.s. 2 I'd also recommend getting 2 swaddling blankets (or Halo sleep sacks) b/c you won't ever find time to wash one b/c the baby will ALWAYS be sleeping in it when you actually get time to do laundry. If you have 2, you can wash one while the baby wears one.

that's all for now!

[emmasmama]

What we did that has worked out GREAT was I just bought a bunch of really thin (and I mean thin) microfleece from Joann Fabrics (you can ask them which ones are the microfleece because they carry a bunch of different kinds of fleece and the microfleece works best. I cut it to the size I wanted after a couple of trial runs with different sized blankets (none of which were big enough) - I can't remember the actual dimensions offhand, but I could measure it for you if you're interested. The beauty of fleece is that you don't even need to hem/serge the edges - it's just fine on it's own. And because it's stretchy, it works fantastic for swaddling - blows the receiving blankets out of the water! This way I could have as many "swaddlers" as I wanted and making 2 of these still cost me less than buying one receiving blanket - a great deal IMHO! You could choose the weight of the fleece based on the season - mine was so light it was fine to use throughout the summer, but if you went a hair thicker you'd have a nice cozy warm blanket.

HTH,

[emmasmama]

Everything that Alexa said is right on! I wholeheartedly agree. Swaddling saved us from what would have surely been a nightmare case of colic. It still was really hard, but at least we felt like we had some tools to help us deal with it. I seriously think that swaddling is genius and so is Dr. Karp. I'm not sure why so many people worry about their babies getting "addicted" to it in this country and wanting to be done with it after the first month or so when it's pretty commonplace in other parts of the world. It really does work to help your baby sleep longer and for the record, my baby hates being put into the swaddle (fusses every single time), but once you get her in there, she calms right down and sleeps like a little angel (but you have to get that swaddle snug!). Your baby won't get addicted - I think people have visions of having to swaddle their child at a slumber party when she's 10 or something. I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen ;)

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions about the fleece swaddle I mentioned above.

[lovin2shop]

I also give props to The Happiest Baby on the Block. All of Dr. Karp's tricks, especially learning to swaddle, made a tremendous difference in our lives when ds was "colicky". I had given up on swaddling because I thought that Drew hated it. Once I learned how to do it snugly, I quickly found out that I was wrong. That book was a lifesaver! Anyway, just used receiving blankets as I did not know about these swaddlers at the time. Next time around, I might try one of them.

Amy (mommy to Drew 9/3/02)

[colleen95]

This post is a little old, but I'd love to get the dimensions you used for the fleece swaddler. Thank you!

[emmasmama]

The dimensions of the blankets that I have are 50" x 50", which I have found to be good from my baby since she was about 2 months old. She is a little on the big side though (90th percentile for height), so I found I needed a little more to work with. I know in the "Happiest Baby on the Block" book, the author suggests making the blankets 45" x 45", so I think either of those would work.

In the very beginning, I just used some receiving blankets from the hospital and other flannel receiving blankets I received as shower gifts. Babies are so tiny at first that you really don't need as big of a blanket and almost anything will work because they don't move around as much (although a blanket that's "square" rather than "rectangular" will work much better). Once they start to get a little big bigger though, the microfleece works really well, because it is stretchy and you can make it as big as you like as your baby grows. My baby is 4 mos old now and swaddling is working so well for us, that I think I will continue to do it for a while still. The 50" x 50" blankets I made are still working great, but maybe in a month or so I will get some more fleece that's a little thicker for winter (the microfleece that I used for summer was VERY lightweight and thin), and up the size a little bit, maybe to 55" x 55", since my daughter is so big.

[Audreymom]

I agree with the last few posts. We got the miracle blanket and it was the best for the earlier months. our ds had reflux and it was well worth the extra cost. now we use the halo sacs (couldn't at first - she'd wake up when her arms weren't swaddled). BTW - we were going to order the swaddleMe but on Dr. Karp's website it said "not to be used for sleeping". That seemed dumb to us - but we went with the miracle blanket instead. Tried big sheets but they just wouldn't do the trick

[ginamlee]

Does anyone know of a coupon code for miracleblankets.com? How do you "wean" from swaddling? At what age do you "wean"?

[akc]

Hi -

For some kids, you don't need to wean them - they work themselves out and that's that. Our philosophy was to stick with swaddling as long as she wanted to cooperate and slept well. Some kids struggle against it at 2-3 months. Most of the guidance says that, if you are swaddling well (snug and well-secured) and they are consistently getting an arm or feet out, then it may be time to let it go. You can also "wean" once they are sleeping through the night - although I wouldn't do it right away b/c they will probably regress since swaddling helps them sleep through the night. Lots say between 2-3 months; Dr. Karp said (in book and in person) go with it as long as she loves it - which was almost 6+ months for Maeve, so we're on the longer end. Some people sort of loosely swaddle (a bit more like a burrito wrap then) until kids are 1 - the babies just like the sensation of something wrapped around them!

B/c we had swaddled Maeve for 6+ months, so she needed some transition. It was the middle of the winter, so part of what we wanted to also protect was her warmth (the swaddling solved all problems of worrying about her temperature!) First, we put her in a little fleece sleep sack for a couple days (got it from www.fleecebaby.com), but we took the arms of the sack and sewed them behind her back - her arms were just in the sack like a loose bag. That way, she could get used to moving her arms around, but NOT have them loose to hit herself in the face, etc. Then, we put her arms in the sleeves (now free) but had little mittens on the end. Same deal - now getting used to the freedom, but no fingernails to deal with. Then, finally, we just let her hands out and she was in the little sleep sack normally. She could also just sleep in a sleeper w/out anything. That whole process took about 2 weeks total - and we never had any nights where her sleep pattern changed at all. I think the key is not to rush it or go "cold turkey" b/c they are used to sleeping one way and now you're changing it.

That's just how we did it - I'm sure others might have gone at it a different way. Hope that helps!

Alexa

[brooke2003]

I cant give enough praise to the Miracle Blanket. We just stopped using it, but it gave our son so many good nights sleep, which even though it was great for DH and I, made our son so much happier. We follow the methods in The Happiest Baby on the Block, and find them to be so sensible and successful. The Miracle Blanket is expensive, but it is well worth it- good sleep is vital to your baby, and it is much safer than the swaddling we did on our own

HTH

Brooke

[ginamlee]

Yes, that does help. Thanks so much for the informative response.

I'm doing the "burrito wrap" thing with Autumn in a regular blanket and it does help her to sleep better. So, I may invest in a Miracle Blanket. I bought a Baby's Image swaddling blanket from kidsurplus.com, but my little Autumn seems too small for it.

[pritchettzoo]

We talked to the owner of Miracle Blanket. He discontinued the coupon code (which was for free shipping I believe) in order to try to discourage sales! He said they are SWAMPED with orders after write-ups in Good Housekeeping and other places. He's very nice and helpful. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of ours...hopefully Gracie will sleep somewhere besides her swing...

HTH...
Anna
Mama to Gracie (9/16/03)

[marchmommy]

If anyone is interested, I ordered a Miracle Blanket but never ever used it--our son was too big by the time I got around to ordering it. I think he was about 4 months old and it is recommended for younger babies. If anyone is interested, I will send it to you for a good price (a much discounted one!) -- the package is still unopened!!! Email me at [email protected]

[ginamlee]

I emailed you yesterday, but don't know if you received it or not...I'll take it!