Swaddling Your Newborn, Made Simple

I don't remember the first time I attempted to swaddle a baby.

I do remember receiving the call to interview for a position in the NICU at the beginning of my nursing career.

In the NICU, swaddling was a skill every nurse had to master.

Then our NICU began working with developmental therapists.

That's when some of us learned we had been doing it wrong.

Swaddling isn't just about wrapping a baby like a little burrito. It's about supporting development, protecting healthy hip positioning, and allowing for appropriate movement. When done incorrectly, it can unintentionally cause harm.

That lesson completely changed the way I thought about swaddling.

As part of a safe sleep initiative, we eventually transitioned to using sleep sacks in the NICU to help model safe sleep practices for families before discharge.

Ironically, we didn't send families home with a sleep sack.

Instead, we provided an oversized hospital gown along with instructions about how to place their baby safely to sleep.

I remember thinking...

There has to be a better way.

Parents often asked me to teach them how to swaddle.

Many became discouraged when they couldn't quite get it right.

Some babies earned the affectionate nickname "little Houdini" because they could escape almost any swaddle.

After years of swaddling babies and using sleep sacks, I realized two things.

First, there had to be a better solution for parents that didn't require skill and precision at two o'clock in the morning.

Second, everything I had learned from our developmental NICU therapists could be incorporated into a better design.

So I designed the PeaPod™.

A swaddle sleep sack created to remove the guesswork and the swaddle struggle.

One simple layer.

Gentle containment.

Safe sleep and swaddling. Made simple.