"All of my daughters were sleeping 10 to 12 hours a night by the time they were 12 weeks old"
She’s a great mum and the founder of Aden & Anais. KIDSEN caught up with Raegan Moya-Jones to chat Swaddling, Muslins and the importance of sleep! Read our two part interview below….
KIDSEN: So many mothers are thankful to you for inventing one of the most useful baby products in the Western World. Tell us what inspired you to launch Aden & Anais and all these beautiful swaddling blankets.
RAEGAN: I actually didn’t invent muslin swaddling blankets; they’ve been around in Australia for as long as I can remember, and in existence in some form for centuries. When I had my first daughter in New York, Anais, I went looking for muslin blankets like the ones I knew from back home, and they didn’t exist in America.
At that point I thought, ‘Every Aussie mum can’t be wrong. Mums there have a baby and use about 10-a-day—why not here?’ So I decided to take a chance and start manufacturing them myself to sell in the US. It was a classic case of the old adage, “Necessity is the mother of all invention.”
What I did do that was unique to muslin was make them fashionable. In Australia they were very utilitarian–all white, sold in a basic cellophane packaging. I figured there was no reason they couldn’t look beautiful as well as be functional, so I started to design the patterns accordingly.
Just one of the many beautiful Aden and Anais Swaddles
KIDSEN: What are the benefits of swaddling?
RAEGAN: Swaddling is believed to recreate the feeling of being in the womb and can help to comfort your baby when they are feeling upset. Swaddling also prevents babies from uncontrollably moving their arms and legs, (commonly referred to as the startle reflex), which can shock the baby and wake them.
Baby’s thrive on routine, so incorporating swaddling into your bed time routine, is one way to create a sleep trigger, so any time your baby is feeling upset, swaddling will help soothe them.
When writing the book Swaddle Love I spoke with a number of doctors to get their take on swaddling and this is a few of the things their research has told them.
- Swaddling triggers a ‘relaxation’ mechanism in infants that helps soothe them. Doctor Harvey Karp
- Swaddling helps keep babies sleeping soundly for longer periods of time… Doctors Thach, Harris, Gerard
- Uninterrupted sleep is important for infants because it is during their sleeping hours that certain brain development takes place. Doctors Thach, Harris, Gerard
KIDSEN: Very often new mothers are keen to swaddle but are worried they may do it wrong – too hard, too loose and therefore don’t even try. What is your advice?
RAEGAN: Swaddling really is super-easy. You just need to practice a few times and it eventually becomes second-nature. I believe the main reason parents give up on swaddling is because they don’t have the right thing (blanket) to swaddle with.
Most receiving blankets are too small to easily and (more importantly) effectively swaddle a baby. A large, lightweight, slightly stretchy (I know, it sounds a lot like muslin!) fabric is all you need to take the anxiety out of swaddling. I also tell parents that they should not be put off by how “well” the nurses and midwives swaddle.
Many of those nurses and midwives utilize complicated techniques which often send new parents into a world of panic right before leaving the hospital to go-it-alone.
Swaddling is easy, it’s just three or four simple folds and tucks and you are good-to-go. It is much better to have a secure swaddle, rather than a loose swaddle. Men are often better swaddlers than women because they are more inclined to pull the fabric around the baby more securely.
The great thing about muslin is that it has a natural give, so once the baby is swaddled, they only have to move slightly and the fabric will give. As a result, the baby will find its own comfort zone.
Click Here to read Part Two of this Interview
KIDSEN are UK Stockists of Aden & Anais – Click Here to see our selection
Tags: Aden and Anais, Muslin, Raegan, Swaddles