Mike –
If you don’t mind sparing the time (this is a long one):
Yesterday, I received the blanket. I was tired of straddling my daughter as we struggled to swaddle her in an oversized blanket from a trendy store. I had safety pins in it. It was two thick layers of cotton, which I know made her overheat. In my every attempt to swaddle, it would get all bunched up in the back and sides. Inevitably, I would find her scratching at her head wildly an hour later. She likes to pull on her hair. She’s got a lot of it. We tried the blanket last night. W/o a little fuss, she went to bed -that was typical for her anyway. But, she did calmly look around after she was in the swaddle. We were impressed by that. Her last evening feeding was at 9:30 pm. I kept her in the MB while I fed her. She is a “fussy” eater sometimes and will kick and thrash her body in frustration while feeding (another story for another time). She didn’t in the MB. She ate calmly at 9:30 pm. Unfortunately, we had to change her diaper before she went down for the night. In our anxiety that she would wake up, we carefully unraveled her. Hoping she would stay asleep. Of course, she didn’t. Her eyes opened and stared at her favorite toy, the digital alarm clock – wide open. We began to re-swaddle her. W/o a passifier, she looked around, refused the passy and closed her eyes! I nearly fell out of the bed! We carefully picked her up and put her back in the bed. Five minutes later, my husband and I were both sleeping.

The story gets better:
She normally would wake up (I apologize) to pass gas and have a bowel movement. She woke up a lot. She didn’t do that last this time. She used to wake up to be soothed and for one midnight feeding. I didn’t get out of bed until 5:27 am! That I attribute to the blanket! 9:30 pm to 5:30 am – the first full night of rest for us since October 21, 2003 (the night before I went into labor).

Another note – Your biggest critic was my sister who is in the medical profession, with one child and another on the way. Her first child slept through the night at 8 weeks. She was not a big swaddler b/c she didn’t like the whole idea of any kind of blanket in the crib. This morning, after I told her what had happened (or should I say didn’t happen), she said, “I might have to get one of those.” 🙂

Thank you –
Well-rested, Neda