All hail the MIRACLE BLANKET!!!
This blanket had us all sleeping soundly when Noel was a wee little baby. When you're at the hospital, groggy, drugged, and have nurses waiting on you and your baby hand and foot, swaddling is really of no matter...someone else will do it for you if you don't know how...Then you get home, with your bundle of wailing, screaming joy. We had been turned on to The Happiest Baby on the Block, which includes the swaddling technique as a way of quieting your baby, before Noel was born. However, swaddling was not either of our strong suits. Within minutes, the baby was wriggling out of it (thankfully, he'd almost always stay asleep...we got lucky with one of the sleeping marshmallow lump types). We wanted something that we knew would ensure a decent night of sleep for all of us, and a swaddler that was fool proof. That's when we stumbled onto the Miracle Blanket, thanks to The Nesting Place (for those of you local to the D/FW area). The blanket, at first, looks like a giant mess of flaps and cloth, but after someone showed us how to use it, we were all about this blanket. The directions on the website show you exactly how to use the blanket, how easy it is, and how it works INSTANTLY. Once when traveling, we actually turned around to retrieve the forgotten blanket...that's how awesome this piece of cloth is. I normally don't dispense advice to parents, ever, because I know how annoying and irritating it is, but I have recommended this blanket and The Happiest Baby book multiple times, all with magnificent results. I have only had one person tell me that their baby "didn't like" this blanket. You might also feel like it's going to "hurt" your baby (I had issues with thinking it was too tight at first). If you check the website, it will tell you that it may take a while for your baby to get used to it. Being wrapped snuggly (but not TOO tightly) gives the baby the "being in the womb" feeling that they've been used to for 9 months. Don't give up! Your baby does not "hate" the blanket!!!
I suggest ordering the blanket directly from their website. The price is comprable to anything you'd find in a store (and finding the ACTUAL Amazing Miracle Blanket in a store is not easy) or on eBay, and the shipping is SO fast. It looks pricey compared to other swaddling blankets you'd find at Target, but trust me, the Miracle Blanket is worth every penny.