Miracle, No More

We are going on night five, sans Miracle Blanket in our household. Unfamiliar with the Miracle Blanket? It truly has been a miracle. You can check it out here. But, since our sugar bear is moving into the "self-soothing" stage of his growth, we've decided to cut our strong ties with the Miracle Blanket.

For those new mothers out there who have ever had an ounce of difficulty calming your baby, I (certainly not an expert, but experienced, nonetheless) recommend two things: Happiest Baby on the Block and the Miracle Blanket. As cheesy as it may sound, the theories explained in the DVD paired with the blanket were life savers!

I believe a little after one month is when we discovered the two above products, and we're going on nearly seven months, now. I'll let you explore on your own about why these things work so well, but the Miracle Blanket technically goes up to 14 weeks. Ha! Since the doctor had no problem with us continuing to swaddle, and our little one seemed to love it, we just weren't ready to give up the Miracle Blanket at that point.

You may think, "Well, it says it only comes in one size ..." Very true; however, after doing a bit of thinking and research online, I easily adapted our Miracle Blanket to fit our growing baby boy. I'm not much of a sewer, so I actually used Liquid Stitch (Another miracle!). I simply purchased a yard of jersey fabric, undid the stitches on the bottom of the blanket and extended its length by adhering the new fabric with Liquid Stitch. Voilà!

So, at our six-month checkup, the doctor explained the importance of self-soothing for the baby. Yes, yes I knew it was inevitable. The truth is, I secretly love the serene time I spend with the little sugar bear, rocking him, singing our prayers and lullabies, and making sure he's fast asleep before putting him down for the night.  But for his (and our) own good in the future, we need to begin easing out of that process -- especially when he awakes during the night.

We chose to cut our ties with the Miracle Blanket at the same time. Why? Well, after doing a little reading, it stressed the importance of babies having their hands free to self-soothe, as they may want to reposition themselves or bring them to their face. In addition, we just plain needed to bite the bullet.

Overall, I'd say the process is going well. We've had more nighttime awakenings, but rather than picking him up and rocking him back to sleep, we simply give him a pacifier and pat him gently. And, I must say it's so sweet to see him snuggled up, without his arms and hands strapped to his side like a straight jacket. However, we will never forget the wonders of our dear Miracle Blanket!