Happiest Baby On The Block

When Adalaide, my youngest, was a new born I read the book The Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp. A friend had recommended it when I told her that I was struggling to sooth the baby during crying fits. Adalaide was my first experience with a new born and I had no idea how to comfort her when she was inconsolable. Naleigh came to us at 10 months old and was already past the crying fits and sleeplessness. Dr. Karp’s Calming reflex and the five S’s were the greatest gift I received as the mother of a new born. His method worked like a charm and I suddenly had a calm, content and peaceful baby! I cannot recommend his book enough and will be forever grateful for the information and knowledge he bestowed upon me! The first S is for swaddling, and I became our houses resident master of what we called the burrito wrap. As soon as Adalaide started getting fussy and I could tell a rage was brewing, I whipped out the gauzy swaddling blankets I had made before her arrival and got to wrapping. In mere seconds her crying turned to a peaceful big eyed gaze that drifted just as quickly into hours of sleep! I’m not exaggerating, the swaddle is that effective. At least it was with my new born and I’m hoping it will work just as well for my new nephew!

Citrus yellow and heather gray suit each other perfectly.

I know how important rest is for the baby as well as the parents so I got out my serger and made a stack of gorgeous swaddling blankets to gift to my sister and brother in law. I used this pattern but decided to serge the blankets instead of hemming them to save myself time and energy for all the other gifts I had in mind.

Forgive the overly filtered pic, I didn't realize I was using a special filter feature when I took the photo with my beloved serger!
Showing my Juki the love.

I purchased my Juki MO-654DE when I found out that Adalaide was on her way so that I could hop to making blankets, burp cloths and diaper covers that would be ready for her arrival. It does feel a little bit like cheating since the serger takes all the hard work out of most things; but, “why hem if you can serge” quickly became my new motto! If you don’t own a serger you can obviously just follow Purl Soho’s exact pattern for the swaddling blanket, which is gorgeous and really shows off the glory of the Kokochi Double Gauze fabric. If you do have a serger and are short on time, try doing a rolled edge hem in a coordinating thread like I did. Or you can get crazy and do a contrasting thread to shake things up. These blankets are beautiful, quick and useful…it really doesn’t get any better than that!

The double gauze fabric has two gorgeous sides to it.
A gorgeous set of four in colors that look great together.
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6 Comments

  • Pati Clark

    Love all the polka dots !!!!!!!

    May 29, 2016 at 3:22 am Reply
  • Tiffany Wheat

    I love your blog. I remember reading things about you at the height of greys about what a diva (and other not so nice words) that you were, but I think what they meant is that your real. You don’t pretend to be what your not and that’s refreshing.

    June 23, 2016 at 9:28 pm Reply
  • Rachel

    The Happiest Baby on the Block DVD/CD saved my sanity! Love Dr. Karp! When my now almost 6 year old is upset, tired or sick I still find myself jiggling and making the shshshsh in his ear while he snuggles in my lap.

    June 23, 2016 at 10:15 pm Reply
  • Ellen Adams

    Shushing was a life saver. Wonder Weeks is also a fascinating book about mental growth spurts aka “leaps” that the babies go through. We just welcomed our first in December (happily unexpected pregnancy as well at 38!) Congrats!

    June 24, 2016 at 12:30 am Reply
  • Callie Lillard

    Those blankets are gorgeous! I’m a NICU nurse, and it kills me when parents with screaming babies tell me their babies don’t like to be swaddled. “Umm, they also don’t like diaper changes but thankfully you are smarter than them and know what’s best for them. If your baby liked the womb, he likes swaddling.” It is seriously the secret to getting anything done with a newborn!

    June 24, 2016 at 3:32 am Reply
  • Kristen

    I love that book! Wish I had read it with our first. The blankets look great.

    July 4, 2016 at 3:34 am Reply
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