19 February 2009
Baby wrap - a swaddling aid
I've just made a prototype that I'm calling the Baby Wrap (Baby Burrito was already trademarked!). It's purpose is to help new parents swaddle their babies. Swaddling is so important to the well-being of newborns but unless you're willing to take the time to learn how to swaddle your little bundle snugly (and I think some Dads give up when their swaddles come undone because they're afraid of wrapping up something so precious and fragile too tightly), it can be a frustrating act that gets handed over to mom, or left out all together.
Rather than make a blanket (everyone has tons of baby blankets already), this wrap is intended to go around the outside of a blanket - no matter how you've bundled or swaddled the little one. My hope is that it will hold together even a loose swaddle, but I'll have to wait for my neighbors to report on its usefulness since they are my first testers - and the inspiration behind the design.
The outside is a soft quilter's cotton with 1/2" double-fold bias tape.
The inside is a super-soft Minky fabric with stars. My prototype went together quickly but I'll wait to have it tested with a real baby and daddy before making changes and improvements.
Due to a lack of infant models in my house, here's parrot, modeling the swaddle, which did a great job of holding his wings in close and snug to his body! If we had more baby dolls around, it probably would have made for a less comical model and I could have showed it with a blanket or sleeping sack. Anyway, there are two 6" strips of velcro on the inside to make it adjustable and hopefully easy to tighten around baby. I will send this little creation to my neighbors and see what they report after a few days of use. If all works well - I'll post a tutorial and make another one for my bambino on the way so Kevin won't be so frustrated when it's his turn to swaddle his little bundle.
As the tester.....
ReplyDeleteGREAT idea! Only problem was that by the time we tried this on Waverly, she was 6-7 weeks old and too big for it. A longer wrap (or a smaller baby) and this would have worked wonders for my husband's less than stellar swaddling abilities. Like Sara mentioned, even after nearly 4 months (yes, I'm still swaddling), all of the swaddling gets passed off to me. Oh, well, hopefully other babies & new parents can benefit from Sara's ingenuity!