Articles

Swaddle, Coddle and Model Good Parenting

By Keri Brenner

Hood River, Oregon — Registered nurse Kim Stolte wants everyone's newborn to sleep longer and make parenting a little bit easier.

As a veteran teacher of childbirth classes, she figured out an easy way to improve the odds: a newborn swaddling blanket that stays closed, keeps babies secure, supports their heads and lets parents get more hours of sleep.

Her invention, the velcro-closure "Swaddlekeeper" blanket, is the winner of an iParenting Media Award for being one of the best new products of 2007.

"Newborns are often easily awakened because they miss the security of being inside the womb," says Stolte, who was featured on several Portland television news programs. "One way to replicate the security of the womb is to keep them tightly swaddled."

Newspaper articles from Oregon, Alabama & Pennsylvania quote the many benefits of the Swaddlekeeper, one being that it keeps newborns in the "back to sleep" position recommended to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

The Swaddlekeeper was designed by Stolte, a labor and delivery nurse at Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital. While teaching parents how to swaddle with a traditional blanket in childbirth class, she knew there had to be an easier way for parents.

"The goal for the Swaddlekeeper is to make swaddling simple," Stolte said. "There is no complicated folding, tucking, wrapping or huge quantities of fabric to arrange,” she said.

With all the many essential parenting tasks during the first few weeks home with a new baby — feeding, bathing, diapering, combined with less sleep for the parents — "it's no wonder that new parents are often overwhelmed with trying to learn the complexities of perfect swaddling," Stolte added.

In addition, the product is designed so that a newborn wrapped in a Swaddlekeeper has a built-in head support that makes holding the baby easy for parents, siblings and grandparents.

Other unique features include the V-shaped leg opening, designed to allow the newborn's legs to kick and stretch for proper hip and leg development. Parents have since pointed out that they like the leg opening because it allows for for easier diaper changes while the arms are still swaddled.

Parents Rachel and Troy of Southington, Conn., said they tried out a lot of swaddling products for their new twins, Matthew and Madeline, but "none seemed to work for our babies," Rachel says.

"We received the Swaddlekeeper as a gift, and we immediately saw a difference in how our babies slept," she adds. "Now that they are 3 months old, we still use the Swaddlekeeper, and they continue to be solid sleepers, and much happier babies during the day."

Other customers say the head support makes their newborns easy "packages" for family members to hold and not worry about giving enough support. "During the first few weeks, our son was a bit fussy while learning to breastfeed," said parents Jon and Jade of Hood River. "The Swaddlekeeper blanket made us feel like we could handle him with more confidence."

Stolte notes that the Swaddlekeeper is typically used over the top of a baby's receiving blanket. The Swaddlekeeper is made from a variety of fabrics with the head support being 100 percent organic quilters' batting and fits babies up to 20 pounds. The blanket is all one-piece and is machine washable and made in the USA.

Stolte offers many tips for helping newborns become solid sleepers on her website, www.swaddlekeeper.com. For example, if your baby exhibits any signs of being tired, such as yawning, wiggling or making fists, immediately swaddle the baby and put him or her to bed.

"The quicker your baby is put into bed after showing a tired sign, the quicker she will settle," Stolte says. "An over-tired baby will cry harder and take much longer to settle down."

Another customer, Kristen of Hood River, said her daughter Kate had been waking up every two to four hours during the night.

"The first night with the Swaddlekeeper she slept nine hours straight through," she said. "We love the Swaddlekeeper – thank you!"