But no one ever said I keep my promises. So allow me to now completely contradict myself and become a walking infomercial for a product I love so much, I've considered marrying it.
Merlin's Magic Sleep Suit.
Dear baby Jesus laying in the manger, this thing is amazing.
Here's the story: my son is almost four months old. Up until now he has been allll about the swaddle. And when I say swaddle, I basically mean a straight jacket. He wanted to be in that Halo swaddle suit so tight that I worried I'd dislocate his shoulders wrapping him up in it.
For over three months, he lay swaddled every night and slept well, only waking up 3-4 times (he is a breastfed baby). But a few weeks ago, that all changed. If he were to be a super hero, I'd call him "The Waker". Nothing I did would keep him down, and I began to notice on the baby monitor that he would sporadically kick and wake himself up. This is when I became best friends with Google and learned about the Moro reflex. (Why do they not teach us about this when we give birth?) This lovely phenomenon will cause completely knocked out babies to wake up with gusto.
You can read about it on the link, but let me save you the trouble. It's a reflex that makes baby feel like he's falling.
Dude, I'd wake the hell up, too.
The good news is that your baby will grow out of it. The bad news is that while you're waiting for that to happen, you get no sleep.
UNTIL NOW.
(This is where I'm going to go full infomercial.)
I saw someone mention the Merlin Magic suit on a local Momma's Group on Facebook. She had nothing but amazing things to say. I was doubtful. Look at this thing.
This snow suit apparatus is supposed to help my child sleep? More like help him body surf down a snow bank.
I was not convinced. There were some hurdles to get past.
Hurdle #1: This looks stupid
It wasn't until I read up on the suit that bells of sense started to ring in my head. The gimmick is, the layers in the suit help to muffle or subdue the jolt of that Moro reflex we just discussed, making it easier for your baby to get himself back to sleep after experiencing one. Instead of fully waking up thinking he's falling, it just feels like a normal "move around", and therefore helps him stay asleep.
So, hurdle #1 jumped. Onto the next.
Hurdle #2: Workin' up a sweat
Won't my baby sweat like a whore in church in this thing?
Answer? Maybe. There are some baby's that run hot, and wrapping them up in additional padding might seem counter intuitive. In that case, I'd recommend having the babe sleep in just a diaper and some socks. There's no need for a onesie underneath because the material is uber soft. You can also choose to get the cotton version rather than the microfleece, which is a bit lighter. My advice is to try it first. And if you're super concerned, turn a fan on to keep the room a bit cooler.
Hurdle #3: Show me the money
The Merlin Magic Suit is not cheap. It's $40.00. If you have Amazon Prime you can get yourself some free shipping, and that helps. Buuuut, to make matters worse, when you wash it, it takes for.ev.er to dry. So you really need two. That's $80.00.
Yes, it's costly. Here's where you have to weigh your return on investment, though. I, myself, burned through at least 3 other sleep solutions (Woombie, Zipadee Zip and some other random thing) before I landed on Merlin. Each one of those products was probably $25.00 and they didn't work and I'm kinda stuck with them. The good news with Merlin is, if it doesn't work for your baby I guarantee you can sell it lickety split for very close to what you paid, if not the exact amount.
But you won't need to worry about that because it's going to work.
Hurdle #4: You can't use it forever
This is a sad one for me. My little man is starting to roll over when he's not in the Merlin suit. For the moment, it's bulky enough that he can't quite roll himself onto tummy while he's in the suit, but that won't be the case for much longer. The Merlin Magic website recommends that once your little one can roll over, they need to be out of the suit.
Well, crap.
There's really no solution I can offer to this last hurdle, it just is what it is. It's not worth keeping my baby in something that might be dangerous past a certain point. (The concern being that if he gets onto his tummy, he could suffocate face down.) So this means eventually he's going to have to transition to another solution (like a sleep sack).
All the tears.
Hurdle #5: Your baby might never sleep this good again
For the record, despite all the rave reviews I read, the first night we tried the Merlin Magic Suit, I had my serious doubts. Would my little buddy even sleep with his arms out at his sides? Wouldn't he be uncomfortable? Truth be told, I was so incredibly nervous it wouldn't work that I actually had the suit in my possession for two weeks before I actually tried it.
I finally decided to bite the bullet on a Friday night. I fed him at 7:30 PM and placed him in the suit.
He looked ridiculous.
Anyways.
I put him down at 7:45 PM and went downstairs with my husband to wait. How long until i had to go in and switch him back to his Halo? 20 minutes? An hour?
At 10:40 I went to bed. He didn't wake me up until 1:45.
After a quick feeding, he went back down again and was asleep until 6:00 AM.
BUT WAIT...THAT'S NOT ALL.
On night three in the suit, he went to bed at 8 and didn't wake up until 4:00 AM.
Yeah, I'm a Merlin Magic believer.
Full disclosure, sometimes he still does get up 2-3 times in the night. But I think that's just how babies are. They're consistently inconsistent. I do know that with this suit I have seen a change in how well my son sleeps, and at the end of the day (or in this case the end of the night) that's all that matters.
So, what are you waiting for? Sleep like a baby because your baby is finally sleeping like a baby.
(If Merlin Magic starts using that tag line, I get royalties right?)
XOXO,
I am not being paid for this product review. I just really, really love our Merlin suit and want you all to get one. I don't have a special code for you to get a discount and I don't get any special swag for writing these words. I'm just a sleep deprived mom that likes me some Merlin Magic.
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