Tutorial: Miracle blanket wrap for baby WITHOUT the Miracle Blanket and NO SEWING

A friend of mine showed me her baby's miracle blanket while I was pregnant. She impressed me with stories of laying baby down and having him go to sleep on his own.

I planned on making my own using a pattern I found at Put Up Your Dukes while I was pregnant, but the fatigue was overpowering...

I thought I'd sew one after baby was born. You know, measure using his exact dimensions and get a perfect fit. But I never made it to the fabric store with my newborn...

The concept that makes Miracle Blanket unique is the extra flaps for securing baby's arm so he can't squirm out of the swaddle. Then when he's asleep and has a dream about kickboxing, he doesn't jerk himself awake. It really helps with teaching baby to sleep longer at night as well as keeping those cute chubby appendages inside the warm blankets.

So, I just started swaddling baby Miracle-style with blankets I already had. Ha. That didn't cost me anything.

Here's my step by step tutorial

My 3-month-old ready to be swaddled

Step 1: Get baby and two blankets

One blanket will wrap baby's arms, the other will go around all of baby to keep him warm. I put the second blanket slightly to the side so that when it wraps around, the two ends are underneath.

2 baby blankets for swaddling

Step 2: Position baby on blankets

Place baby so that second blanket lines up with tops of baby's shoulders.

Step 3: Wrap first arm

Pull blanket across arm to be swaddled and tuck it behind baby's back. Try to spread it flat so baby doesn't have to lay on a pile of wrinkles.

Here is baby with blanket tucked behind. Notice while blanket is snug enough to hold baby's arm, it is not tight. I don't want to force baby's arms behind his back or make his position uncomfortable.

Step 4: wrap second arm

Here comes blanket around second arm and behind baby's back.

Sorry for my amateur pictures; I haven't won any awards for photography. But baby could probably win an award for cuteness.

Step 5: Wrap outer blanket around baby

This one keeps his body and legs warm.

All done!

I can put baby to bed while he's still awake and if he's tired he'll fall asleep on his own. Amazing!

All wrapped up!

Now you can try swaddling your baby Miracle-blanket style and see if it works on your baby.