Wrapture

This is a guest post by my clever, beautiful and remarkable sister Kym. I cannot believe I have not yet gotten to squish this baby nephew of mine!!! Soon though, very very soon <3

My lovely husband and I welcomed a beautiful son into our lives a month ago... a miracle baby, who like all babies, is a screaming peeing pooping demanding hungry hungry hungry bundle of bliss. We are  completely in love with him but freely admit that this learning curve is a steep one! And we aren't totally new to babies, we have three nieces and four nephews and very honest sisters and brothers! But of course... when it happens to you...

Oh but he is lovely. He is so very very VERY cute (I am not biased, I swear it), and doted upon by the plethora of loving supporters who stood by us during our journey to this point, who cried with us when we thought he would never be possible, and who cried with us again when he came to be!

I'm enjoying his little quirks every day. He is a master escape artist - this was clear from about day three. I suspect his hands have a different brain to the rest of him and insist upon flying about, slapping him in the face, pulling on his cheeks, grabbing hold of everything, and upsetting him no end! Which we are assured is very normal. In a baby, anyway! So we wrapped him from the get go, and this worked fantastically! Until day three. Then his hands developed foresight. Every time we went to wrap, those arms shot straight up and with all the strength in his little body they would stay there and be almost impossible to pull down to his body for wrapping. Suddenly it was a challenge! And even when we managed to get him wrapped well, it wasn't long before we saw those delicate little fingers creeping out of the top of the wrap as though about to make a run for it (reminds me of Thing from the Addams Family). As soon as the hands were out, the arms followed, then flailing slapping *thunk* *tears*... oh those hands have so much to answer for!

And his feet! Oh good grief. The little gap between buttons on his onesies is just big enough for a foot to make an escape. He frogs his little legs up and those feet end up in all sorts of places - often down the same leg of his suit (freaked me right out the first time, I had no idea where his leg had gone for a moment in my sleepy haze and thought I must be dreaming as I gazed at the empty suit leg! Of course then I noticed the other leg was twice as fat).

Rogue Foot!

So, when my lovely and very supportive sister Kate (who, along with another sister is keeping me from falling into a messy puddle as I start to work out this mothering caper) asked if I wanted to try a swaddle bag/suit to review, I figured this would be right up my little son's alley.

I was sent the Love to Swaddle Up (original) by Love to Dream and I loved the promise it held. My son didn't love it right away though... his little rogue hands, while covered, were suddenly free enough to *thunk* *thunk* *thunk* his face all night long! We tried it again the next night however, and suddenly it was a different story. He started using his hands to suck on the suit, to touch his face more slowly, and he slept a whole lot better! Thank goodness, cos I was not keen on going back to wrapping!

The fabric is lovely and soft (we have t-shirt sheets on our bed and it reminds me of that). It's very stretchy but holds firm around his little (often engorged) tummy. The zipper is double ended so that you  can unzip from the bottom to change nappies - love it cos he doesn't like getting cold! The top zipper pull is covered so that it doesn't irritate his chin or neck, and I LOVE that he stays in it for feeds and those little hands no longer jump in front of his mouth just before it gets to the nipple. 

Muuuuuummmm... what the hell is this?!

Ohhhh wait.... ohhh yeah. Noice.

I'd love to tell you that he suddenly sleeps for hours at a time but he's just too hungry for that at the moment! But I have noticed that when he is asleep it is less fitful and disrupted. We have put those cheeky hands in their place at last!

So, while I have the floor, so to speak, I'd like to take advantage and ask this audience of mums three questions, purely for my own interest!

1. What is the best advice you were ever given as a mum?
2. What genius item or trick did you discover along the way?
3. For those with more than one child - what did you learn from your first that made life easier with subsequent babies? What changed?

Thanks for your collective wisdom in advance!

Your chance to win...


We are offering two lucky readers the chance to experience the benefits of the Love To Swaddle UP by winning an exclusive Love To Dream Gift Pack containing:

An Original Love To Swaddle UP
An Organic Beanie
An Extra Large wash bag to look after your swaddles

To enter please leave a comment addressing any or all of Kym's questions above. Because Mums have to stick together right?! 

This is a game of skill and chance will play no part in determining the winner. Entries close Saturday 6th October at 5pm and winners will be contacted by email within 24 hours, so make sure you leave a valid email address!

Good luck and sweet dreams.