Swaddle Scare!

Like all new moms, I am scared to death that I'm going to hurt my baby. Clipping his fingernails is a harrowing event, bathtime is fraught with visions of him pitching forward out of his tub and bonking his noggin, and I'm certain that he's about to suddenly become mobile and flop out of any seat I put him in. The sane part of me knows that all of these things are pretty unlikely, and if something does happen he will probably be just fine.

But this morning, Jack scared the hell out of me.

Jack was very fidgety last night, which happens when he gets overtired. I don't swaddle him every night, but when he's overtired I'll use the Miracle Blanket or, less often, a Kiddopotamus SwaddleMe blanket. The SwaddleMe is a fleece swaddling blanket that uses velcro to keep baby wrapped tight. Jack usually breaks an arm out of the SwaddleMe sometime during the night, but at least he spends most of his night swaddled and sound.

Apparently Jack has been working out, as last night he did more than break an arm out of the SwaddleMe. He managed to scootch his legs out of it and squirm so far down that the SwaddleMe was covering his face, held on by the velcro which was now around his neck.

There are no words to describe the abject horror that I felt when I looked into the Pack n Play and saw that. Even writing about it now, hours later, I get short of breath. Fortunately, this story has a happy ending. Jack was just fine, and in fact he was kicking and squirming and his happy morning self, totally unaffected by his predicament. He had his morning milk and shared some beautiful smiles with me.

What went wrong? The velcro on this SwaddleMe is weak from use, which I think made it easier for Jack to break out of the swaddle and wiggle himself into the position he got into. I'm sure that he would have pulled the velcro away from his neck as well, given enough time, but I certainly wasn't about to test that theory. I can certainly say I'm retiring this SwaddleMe to the trash can, and I'm not sure I'm going to use my other two SwaddleMes either. I'm shaken, I'm definitely shaken.

Moms, go hug your babies today, one extra time.