Swaddling – what is it and why does it work

You may have heard of swaddling and there are lots of products out their especially for swaddling, but what is it, what’s the theory behind it and does it work?

What is swaddling?

Swaddling is when you wrap up a baby firmly from the neck down in a thin, light blanket with her or his arms tucked against her or his chest. Obviously  you don’t want to restrict their breathing or crush them, but a key factor is that the blanket must be quite firm and doesn’t easily unwrap.

The idea is to calm the baby and make them feel safe and secure.

What’s the theory behind it

It is believed that being tightly bound reminds the baby of the restricted space in the womb – the place that was safe and warm and lovely, before the baby entered the big wide (scary) world. It’s also said to help stop them thrashing around agitating themselves, and it can stop them being disturbed by the little twitches they make when they’re asleep.

Does swaddling work?

Swaddling is not a modern, fly-by-night trend, it’s an age old technique that’s been used since before people started writing books on babycare. Many people swear by it. However, some experts have raised concerns about some of the negative effects of swaddling, and others say it simply doesn’t work for them. At the end of the day, each baby is different, so you won’t know whether swaddling is going to help calm them until you try it.

If you have a newborn baby, why not drop by Personalised Baby Gifts? We have more articles with tips on parenting, from travelling with a baby to choosing a baby’s name. And once you’ve chosen your baby’s name, why not have it embroidered onto their bib, or printed on a personalised clock for the nursery.

Top Three Newborn Gifts

Trinket boxes for firsts

There are a variety of trinket boxes and certificate holders you can get for keeping baby’s first tooth or first lock of hair safe forever (much nicer than a jiffy bag in the kitchen drawer!). Trinket boxes can be engraved with the name and date of the new arrival and certificate holders can come with commemorative plaques.

Bibs and Linen

A practical gift, bibs and linen can be personalised with embroidery to show the newborn’s name and even date of birth or a message. Parents will be grateful for the extra bibs, muslins and linen, which are useful as well as beautiful gifts.

Newborn photo session

Time flies so fast and these precious moments are gone forever. There is a very short window for newborn photography, but the adorable photographs will be cherished forever. Or, if the parents are too exhausted, most photography vouchers can be used later, when the baby is more bubbly and responsive.

At personalised baby gifts we have hundreds of products specially selected for newborns and babies. Most of our items can be personalised free of charge.

Personalised Treasure Hunt Gift for a Child's Birthday

Looking for an interesting idea to make your child's birthday even more special and fun? A personalised treasure hunt is a great way of building anticipation and making receiving of gifts into a game.

 

Setting up a personalised treasure hunt takes a bit of preparation, but is quite straightforward and well worth it for the expression of delight on your child's face.

First you have to prepare the clues. Get some little pieces of paper - you can use fancy coloured card or parchment or simply scraps from a jotter notepad, it's really up to you. Then decide which places you're going to hide the clues. It's best if you find places around the house where they won't be seen by accident - if your child accidentally finds one out of turn, it could break the surprise.

For each place, try to think of a clue that will lead to it. For example, if you're going to hide one in a grandfather clock, the clue might say, 'This is a tall tick tock tick tock'. If you're going to hide one in the washing machine (careful nobody does a washload in the meantime!) it might say, 'Socks and suds go round and round'. You can make them easy or difficult, depending on how long you want the game to last.

Once you've got around ten clues, plant them in order so that they create a continuous trail. Then, at the end of the trail - put the present!

Once everything's ready, present your child with the clue and explain that they have to work out what it means - they'll soon get the hand of it and be adventuring away!

If you're looking for a great personalised gift for a child's birthday, check out our cute clothing, soft toys and personalised jigsaws.

Tips for taking photos of your newborn

Whether it’s your first child or your fifth, having a new baby is an incredibly special moment in all parents’ lives. You probably want to capture the first moments forever as your new addition slumbers peacefully.

At Personalised Baby Gifts we offer engraved photo frames and embroidered albums to keep all your baby photos safe in.

Here are some tips for taking some great newborn photos.

Try to capture the ‘firsts’

Rather than having lots of pictures of the baby in the same position, it can be very fun and rewarding to capture some of the many firsts that will be going on. Such as baby’s first bath, first weighing, first outfit, first time meeting grandparents, best friend, aunt etc.

You don’t need to go overboard and try to capture every single thing, but by creating a ‘photo documentary’ of this kind, you will have a story to relive over the years.

Experiment with distances and angles

Close-ups work very well with babies – if you have a macro function on your camera, then get up close and use it! But you should experiment from further away, and also try different angles. Down low works well for babies, because it gives the impression of being in their world.

Try black and white

Converting pictures of newborns and babies into black and white makes for a timeless beauty. If you have some photo editing software, you could also experiment with desaturating but not entirely turning to black and white, using a sepia filter or if you’re a little more advanced removing all colour except in a few select places, such as a bow, or in the eyes.

For more ideas and tips for new parents visit our baby gifts store.

How do babies develop? Months Eight to Ten

Piggy Banks make great noisy shakers

When babies reach eight months, playtime becomes much more fun and rewarding for baby and grown ups both! That's because babies of this age are getting much better control of their body and face, so can interact and make expressions of pleasure, confusion and surprise. They are beginning to form their personalities, likes and dislikes.

Babies love the opportunity of emptying and filling containers so they can play by themselves for quite a long time. They will also notice toys with moving parts, such as wheels or doors that open and close and they can roll around on the floor for hours with toy cars.

Bath time is another great opportunity for some fun. Most babies will probably love to fill water in little cups and empty them but quite soon they can discover the trick of emptying the cups over the side of the bath...

By around the tenth month babies crawl very well and they are getting closer to walking. Some babies may take a few steps with their parent’s support. They start to practise beding their knees and emergency stops - sitting down!

It is too early for shoes and babies have more fun going barefoot.
 

Most babies can repeat sounds, gesture and they may wave goodbye when they see their parent near the door. The baby’s personality is really emerging now and some babies’ social skills are blossoming so they smile to everyone they meet but some babies hide their faces because they are shy of new people. 

Personalised Baby Gifts UK offers a great range of unique personalised gifts, aimed at babies, mums and dads. There's also stuff for grandparents and god parents!

Visit our site: http://www.personalisedbabygiftsuk.co.uk

How do babies develop? Six to Eight Months

Parents will be pleased to know that babies begin to calm down a bit from around six months, and should be able to sleep through the night. A break in the nerve shredding crying will be welcome, and the difficult period of high stress will start to recede.

This is also a time to be amazed by how quickl the baby grows and changes every month.

Babies can start to try opening boxes

At around six months babies are usually ready for solid food and they may watch when you eat or even make a grab for what’s on your plate. Most babies are able to roll over, and in a few months they will start crawling. Babies’ hand control is well developed and they can start to practice moving objects from one hand to the other.

Around seventh months is the time where most babies can sit without support and reach things with a sweeping motion. They also imitate speech sounds and combine syllables into wordlike sounds. Some babies can stand while holding onto something, and wave goodbye.

The new world of exploration is beginning to open up for babies of around eight months. Many babies start learning to crawl at this age so there will be many bumps and falls, and sometimes they can pull themselves to a standing position and cruise around furniture while holding on. They can also point at objects and pick things up. It’s quite possible that your baby will understand more from your tone of voice than the actual words. 

This article was written by Personalised Baby Gift UK.  If you have a minute then check our our gorgeous baby gifts, including albums and frames, bibs and vests and door plaques and tiles. Most of our products can be personalised and all personalisation is complete free of charge.

How do babies develop? The first month...

We might think a baby's life is easy, just eating, sleeping and squalling, but it's a very stressful time in any human being's life...
 

You can never have to many personalised bibs!

The first few days after birth are very testing for most babies because they’ve changed their environment from mummy’s small cosy belly to a big cot or pushchair. This is a big change for them so perhaps it's no wonder that they cry so often!  Usually the best way to calm them down is to put a small blanket tightly around their body so they feel safer and relaxed.   This is called swaddling and reminds the baby of being back in the safe, close confines of the womb.

At first newborn babies move in a jerky, uncoordinated way but probably by the end of the first month their movements become more fluid. They won’t be able to fully extend their arms and legs yet, which will make them look little bit scrunched up, which is perfectly normal.

In the first month babies are trying to adjust to being in the outside world and they spend most of the time sleeping and eating. At this time babies try to lift their head, stare at faces and follow objects. They can see black and white patterns and quite often they smile, though for the moment it's just a reflex.

If you or someone you know has just had a newborn baby, why not get one of our silver finish certificate holders, perfect for keeping birth certificates safe for newborn boys and newborn girls.