We’ve been having a rough time with fussy Etta lately. When she is happy, she is very very happy, but when she is bad, she is horrid. After a few nights in a row, I was looking for solutions. She loves to be bounced, HARD, in her bouncy seat. And she loves to be swaddled tightly. But those two things can’t be combined very easily, because the swaddle gets in the way of the seat’s straps.
Enter inspiration. I knew there were folks who make “swaddle straps;” I just didn’t want to pay for a baby straight jacket that seemed simple enough to sew myself. But then, I got an even easier idea: why not just cut the swaddle part of an outgrown sleep sack? A little quick cutting, and I had my very own swaddle strap. It worked great, and it was certainly put to the test last night– Etta was up 3 times instead of her usual 1. The problem wasn’t the swaddle strap so much as that she seems to believe she must be bounced at all times, and, well, I want my sleep. Still, I’ll take drowsy bouncing over unswaddled screaming any day.
erniebufflo's south & west kitchen 
You are a genius!!! I wish I had thought of this two years ago.
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How brilliant! I had some Swaddle Me blankets that came with a hole in the back. We used it to swaddle our daughter in her carseat. You have to put the blanket on the seat and then add the baby, but it’s pretty handy. I’m so impressed that you made your own solution!
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The captions of the photos are hilarious. Thanks for sharing!
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Mothers must be behind every invention!
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Our daughter was very similar so my husband would hold her and bounce for LONG periods of time on our big blue exercise ball in from of the computer. Win, win. :) We finally convinced her that the swing in the dark bathroom with the the going for white noise was a more appealing option. That was a good day!
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long ago a frazzled mama put the bouncy chair on the clothes dryer and turned the dryer on. The dryer “bounced” a bit, made a noise like a white-noise, and the baby fell asleep much to the relief of the frazzled mama.
I know, I know, this seems to be a drastic measure but sometimes a frazzled mama has to take drastic measures. :)
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Barb- we’ve been known to put the car seat on the dryer to mimic a car ride!
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You should market this.(..you know…in all your spare time!) My daughter was exactly like this, only, mercifully, she preferred the cradle swing at night. And it had to be swinging all flippin’ night. So we went through 8 D batteries every 10 days just so she’d sleep. She was swaddled until 7 months old, and had outgrown all swaddlers, so I famously stuffed her up to her neck into a thigh-high stocking! It worked! Does Etta have reflux? Our daughter did/still does, so keeping her semi-upright, swaddled, with white noise playing at a loud volume was essential.
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Aww, zonkers!
PS We have the same rug in our living room :D
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Have you tried the vibrating bouncy seat? It doesn’t bounce per se, but it, well vibrates. This one: http://www.target.com/p/fisher-price-rainforest-bouncer/-/A-10394017?ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001&AFID=Google_PLA_df&LNM=%7C10394017&CPNG=baby&ci_sku=10394017&ci_gpa=pla&ci_kw=
And also the swing, were life savers for me and my twins.
Your girls are beautiful. Belated welcome to world of twins!
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What did you do about the zipper part of the swaddle sack? Did you cut it off or did you cut out the inner part all together?
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I just cut off the outer wrap, so there was no zipper part.
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