Customer Reviews

Miracle Blanket -Baby Swaddling Blanket -Pink

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I must admit that in the past I haven't had the best luck with products containing "miracle" in their name. However, this blanket is the shining exception!

Our son was a very big boy -- 10 lb, 6 oz of joy. We had read Harvey Karp's "The Happiest Baby on the Block" (highly recommended) and we knew we wanted to swaddle him. We had planned to use a receiving blanket, but we quickly found out that none of them were remotely big enough. Not even close. We spent a ton of money buying bigger blankets, and we tried two other expensive swaddling blankets as well. Nothing worked, nothing held the baby, and all three of us were desperate to get some sleep. We even bought a cheap sheet set and tore it up to get some bigger patches of cloth. No dice.

Finally, I ordered this blanket online (Amazon didn't carry it at the time, alas.) BINGO -- our son slept through the night at once! Yes! We had to wake him from a sound, swaddled sleep to change and feed him; he went back down like a rock as soon as we re-swaddled him. He loved this blanket. When he saw us coming with it, he'd try to lie quietly with his arms at his sides in anticipation of the (very simple) process of swaddling him up. And I loved the fact that this blanket was so soft and comforting and had no snaps or any other fasteners that could rub him.

I should mention that the two new parents I gave this to as a shower gift were pathetically grateful, and couldn't stop gushing. I understand; for a new parent, anything that grants you sleep is your favorite thing in the world.

A note to parents considering this blanket: Be prepared for some of your friends (especially the childless ones) to recoil in horror at the thought of swaddling. "You're tying your baby up?" "What if he suffocates?" "But he won't be able to move! It's cruel!", etc., etc. These people probably mean well, but their comments are very ignorant. The fact is, your baby has just spent months in the most confined space imaginable -- a womb where he could barely budge at all. And new parents will immediately notice that newborn babies have virtually no control over their newly freed arms -- they'll startle themselves from sleep time and again, then start flailing their hands around and scratching their faces raw. Newborns don't have the neurological control to stop themselves from flailing, so they love it when you return them to the safe, warm, familiar confinement they remember from the womb.

Another comment you'll hear from some people is, "How do you know when the baby doesn't need to be swaddled any more?" Easy. They start to wriggle out of the swaddling. They may not be able to talk, but they'll let you know clearly when they're ready to move on.

The Miracle Blanket has a great concept and if I had to choose between one and a regular receiving blanket, I would happily pay the extra money for the miracle blanket. However, there are some great competing brands on the market that offer cheaper, better swaddling blankets. In particular, my wife and I have been much happier with the Kiddopotamus SwaddleMe 100% Cotton Flannel, Small, Sage Gingham.

The only area the Miracle Blanket wins out is in its softer material. This is far outweighed by a less practical design and a price that's triple the current amazon price for the kiddopotamus.

The miracle blanket requires that you tuck flaps over each arm of your baby and then under their back. This may make swaddling easier the first time compared to the kiddopotamus. Yet, after a few swaddles, you'll become fast and profficient enough to deal with flailing limbs. These flaps end up just being a hassle. Also the velcro on the kiddopotamus makes getting the perfect tension quick and easy. The miracle blanket has a very long wrap that you must go around and around your baby with...and without the velcro it is much more likely to come loose. Miracle blanket makes the velcro seem like a negative, but the velcro on the kiddopotamus isn't in any place that would rub up against your babies skin.

As for fit, the kiddopotamus does a far superior job with my 7 lbs. 19.5" baby girl. The miracle blanket is "one size fits all," whereas the kiddopotamus comes in both small and large. The miracle blanket is so big that the bottom of the blanket is easily kicked off and my baby's feet shortly flail about, defeating the purpose of the swaddle. At least this allows or easier diaper changes. The kiddopotamus never comes undone, thanks to the velcro. The size also seems perfect for any baby from 18 to 24 inches and 6 to 12 lbs., but don't take my word or it. Also the flannel kiddopotamus is the most constraining I hear.

I received this blanket from some relatives for my baby shower. I took one look at it and thought they were crazy. There was no way my baby was going in that thing! When my son was about a month old, however, my husband and I were desperate for sleep, so we decided to give it a try. What a miracle! The other reviews have just about said it all as far as how wonderful it is, but I would like to add one thing. When he started to outgrow it, we loosened it a little bit at a time. I think this was very effective. We basically weaned him off of it so that it wasn't so hard for him to fall asleep without it. Great product!

Our little girl was practically born sucking on her fingers. Unfortunately it didn't take long for her prenatal infatuation with her hands to turn into a postnatal love-hate (but mostly hate) relationship. Without the confinement of the uterus her poorly coordinated hands more often ended up attacking and scratching her face rather than providing self-soothing comfort. A light sleeper to begin with, this made getting a solid uninterupted nap next to impossible for the poor thing. Standard receiving blankets are too small to properly swaddle the arms straight down, and even with oversized blankets our girl can wiggle them out eventually.

All of that is a preface to our discovery of the miracle blanket - the only sure-fire way to keep those hands down! No zippers or velcro (what a mess when they come out of the dryer), the miracle blanket is an elegant swaddling solution. Flaps on the inside of the blanket go over the arms then under her back, keeping the arms down by friction. Its generously long "wing" wraps around twice, enough to keep it tight and secure through the night and limit her movement in the bassinet (this is great for peace of mind). We make the final wrap around the hip/thigh area to secure the leg pouch and then tuck the end in nice and tight.

It hasn't truly been a "miracle" for us - she's still a restless little squirmer - but it's the best swaddler we've found and the only one I can whole-heartedly recommend. If you're tired of struggling to get a tight swaddle that resists the best efforts of your little Houdini, give this one a try before "throwing in the blanket".

EDIT: I have found that you can mimic the miracle blanket by folding a normal-sized receiving blanket a couple times to create a long narrow band. Place the band horizontally over an oversized swaddling blanket (40x40in. or bigger). The band goes behind baby's back first as you lay baby down, then fold either end over each arm and under baby's back again. Then swaddle baby like you normally would, now with the arms immobilized.

This was THE best blanket for a swaddle, especially for our squirmy guy! We purchased our first Miracle Blanket from the manufacturer's site, but Amazon gives a better deal and includes free shipping. This paired with the Happiest Baby on the Block DVD would make an excellent shower gift. We couldn't have survived without them!

I bought this blanket in 2005 for my son (in blue of course). It worked like a charm for him. He used it until he was 5 months old. I just didn't use the foot part once he got too long for it. I bought it again fir my now 5 week old daughter. She will cry and cry until I wrap her in this blanket. Once I wrap her, she immediately calms down. I bought two more since she never wants to be out of it.

I bought this blanket for a friend who is having a little girl. This is now my "go to" shower gift! I bought one for my 5 week old son who was only sleeping 2 hours at a time. As soon as I started swaddling him in the miracle blanket, his sleep increased to 4-5 hours at a time! He's 4 months old now & we're still using the blanket. In fact, when he sees it, he starts smiling! He loves getting wrapped up at night. Once I wrap him, he falls asleep in 5-10 minutes. This is a must have for babies that have difficulity sleeping.

I had bought a few Kiddopotamus SwaddleMe blankets for my first child & they never worked well for me. I wish I spent the extra money to buy this instead. It worked so well, my 2nd baby slept for long stretches right away. The concept is simple - the baby's weight holds the swaddle in place. There are two flaps that you fold over each arm and tuck under the baby's back. The longest flap gets wrapped around the baby a couple of times so it won't budge. The baby loved it and it really helped him fall asleep and stay asleep. I still use it from time to time without the leg pouch since he's long outgrown it.

My daughter, at 12 weeks, was able to totally unswaddle herself using the swaddleme that we had been using since birth, yet she still needed to be swaddled to fall asleep. She can't seem to calm down without being swaddled and she claws at her face which wakes her up. Everyone I knew told me to get the miracle blanket and it would solve all my problems. Maybe if we had used this from birth she would have been okay with it. But, she hated having her arms tucked under the folds, screamed like crazy, and even though they were tucked under, she was still able to bring them up and out of the blanket, with the folds still around them. It didn't take her long to get out of this blanket. So we got one hour out of it. We switched to the Halo that she can move her arms around in but still can't get them up out of the fabric to her face.

When my daughter was a newborn, my husband ran out and bought several swaddling blankets, including the Miracle Blanket, SwaddleMe, and some muslin swaddling blankets. At first, I thought the miracle blanket was too complicated to use every night. Since I did not like the velcro on the SwaddleMe, we ended up using the muslin blankets and were very happy for a little while.

At 9 weeks, my daughter was consistently escaping her muslin swaddle several times a night. Before spending more money on a bigger blanket or a different type of swaddle, I pulled out the Miracle Blanket and gave it another try. She has been sleeping like a champ, only waking up once in the middle of the night to eat. Any time I hear her start to stir throughout the night, she always calms herself down fairly quickly. Even when we're wrapping her up (wide awake), this blanket seems to calm her.

The only downside is that it would be difficult to wrap a sleeping baby without waking her, since you have to tuck the arm flaps under her back. But it's a small price to pay for a full night of sleep and a smiley baby in the morning!