Ultimate Swaddles

When Lynette, our founder, first conceived of the idea to make the Ultimate Swaddle blanket, she had been visiting new families in their homes. She discovered the new parents were not swaddling their newborns, and consequently they were so sleep deprived, and their baby was crying and flailing their arms.

Lynette found something in their home in which to snugly wrap their baby and baby quickly calmed down and fell asleep. Well, the new parents thought she was a miracle worker, but she humbly told them how new babies find the snugness of a swaddle reassuring and calming, and swaddling helps to suppress the startle reflex (the Moro reflex), the flailing that was waking baby, so baby would sleep better.

Consistently, the parents would ask her to share the secret of the hospital nurses, how to swaddle. She happily showed them over and over at each house she visited, but the blankets the parents had were not appropriate for making a good secure swaddle. They were too thick or too small. They were slippery satin on one whole side.  She searched the market for a blanket to suggest and there were no large square swaddling blankets anywhere. Only small rectangular receiving blankets were available.

Lynette wanted to help so she used her healthcare background as a nurse and her design education from the Art Institute of Seattle and created the Ultimate Swaddling Blanket. People didn’t know what “swaddling” meant, so we changed the name to the Ultimate Receiving Blanket until swaddling caught on after several years. Then, we went back to calling our baby blanket the Ultimate Swaddle once again.

Lynette designed the blanket to be large and square with a pretty decorative stitch, much like the hand embroidery her grandmother lovingly hand stitched around flannel blankets she had made as a young mother. Yes, making swaddling blankets is in Lynette’s DNA, only she didn’t know it at the time. Her mom had sewn blankets for her children, but Lynette didn’t know about her Grandmother’s hand- embroidered blankets until she presented her mom with the first prototype and her mom pointed to the decorative edge and told her the family history.

 Lynette knew that new moms did not stay in the hospital for days like they used to, and they were not getting to learn about swaddling and practice swaddling with the nurses during those early days with baby like was done in the past.

So, Lynette hand sketched the 123 Swaddle babies on the instructive label that is sewn to the edge of all of our swaddle blankets. Three easy steps showing new parents how to make a safe secure swaddle (the art is under copyright), so parents everywhere could learn how to swaddle using the right kind of blanket, in the right size and shape, lightweight to be warm enough but not as to overheat.

Lynette set out on a mission to help new parents calm and comfort their baby, to prevent sleep deprivation and exhaustion, and so everyone in the house could get more sleep.

Our first customer was a major hospital in the Seattle area, and they loved the educational component of our Ultimate Swaddle and purchased 4000 of them to give as a departure gift to new parents.

And that is the birth story of SwaddleDesigns.

Our Ultimate Swaddles are not just great for swaddling, their generous size makes them perfect for a multitude of uses. Use them as a sunshield, a privacy throw when feeding baby, or as a playmat for tummy time. Our swaddles also make great cuddle blankets, and coverlets on a toddler’s bed. They are long lasting and have great value.

We hope you enjoy them as much as the millions of parents around the world have loved using them.

They’re a really great blanket.