The padded head support, made from 100% Organic Cotton quilters batting is perfectly designed to cradle the newborns head, so that siblings, grandparents and parents feel more comfortable holding the newest member of the family! The head support also helps with breastfeeding positioning and keeping the newborn in the ‘back to sleep’ position to decrease the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

When parents use the SwaddleKeeper to securely swaddle the newborn, they sleep for longer periods of time! Most newborns wake because of the startle reflex moves their arms and they awake. If swaddled in the SwaddleKeeper the newborns arms are kept snug against their bodies so they are not awakened with random movements. Quite often parents will note that their newborn will squirm against the blanket for a bit and then settle back into a deep sleep.

Newborns are often easily awakened because they miss the security of being inside the womb. One way to replicate the security of the womb is keeping them tightly swaddled. Newborns instinctively struggle against the blankets and often try to get a hand to their mouth to suck. This was fine when they were inside the womb, but now that they are on the outside, it is important to provide that security with a secure swaddle. Successful swaddling with a standard receiving blanket require specific techniques and each blanket used swaddles differently depending on the thickness of the fabric and the size of the blanket.

Hood River, Oregon — Registered nurse Kim Stolte wants everyone’s newborn to be the happiest kid on the block.

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 in recent weeks. “One way to replicate the security of the womb is to keep them tightly swaddled.”

The Swaddlekeeper was designed by Stolte, a pediatric nurse at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Hood River. After years of noticing what keeps babies happy and asleep through the night, Stolte discovered that newborns easily wake themselves if they are not swaddled securely.

However, new parents are often overwhelmed with trying to learn the complexities of perfect swaddling.

“The goal for the Swaddlekeeper is to make swaddling simple,” Stolte says, noting that the newborn wrapped in a Swaddlekeeper has a built-in head support that makes holding the baby easy for parents, siblings and grandparents. “There is no complicated folding, tucking, wrapping or huge quantities of fabric to arrange.”

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 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 can be used by itself or on top of a baby’s  receiving blanket. The Swaddlekeeper is made from 100 percent organic quilters’ batting and fits babies up to 15 pounds.

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.”

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,” Kristen says. “We love the Swaddlekeeper – thank you!”

These looser wrappings, tucked but not tied, can generally be kicked off by a wakeful baby. They are still useful for keeping the baby warm, without increasing the SIDS risk, because the wrappings stay well clear of the baby’s face and airway. (This assumes that the baby is put to sleep on its back, as anti-SIDS precautions recommend.) By the time the baby is learning to roll over, often around 6 months, it should be sleeping in less restrictive coverings - so it has more freedom to respond when it succeeds in rolling over.

Some medical studies maintain that swaddling appears to be a positioning technique that can enhance neuromuscular development of the very low birth weight infant and that it might have a role in further lowering SIDS risk Research has also found that swaddling helps infants sleep with fewer awakenings and stay in REM sleep longer