What's a receiving blanket?

[Pansy]

I keep reading that I will need 6 receiving blankets as "you get through loads of them". What is a receiving blanket and what would I use it for? Why would I get though so many?

I'm in the UK - maybe this is a US thing or maybe I'm just being v dim!

 

[October2013]

I think they're the thin little flannel blankets. You can usually buy them 3 to a pack. I'm not certain but I'm guessing you go through so many because of spit up and stuff.

 

[lovehearts]

Im pretty sure its a muslin cloth. You use them to wipe up spit up/sick/driblle/snot. I used them at feeding time as my son was a very sicky baby and we got through loads. Always handy to have a couple in your change bag etc. xxx

 

[SurpriseMom2B]

I'm in Canada, and it's just as everyone stated (I'm not sure what a muslin cloth is, so maybe they are the same lol), but yeah they are just a small thin blanket you use for everything. Throw a couple in the diaper bag, and keep multiple stashed around the house, use them for feeding, burping, cleaning up spit up, lay them down underneath baby when you change them, just literally what ever lol.

 

[Dream.dream]

Think flannelette blankets.

If you know anyone who can sew get them to make you some big ones , the stuff you but from the store are tiny and kind useless.

My mom made me some and I swaddled my son with them , used them as a cover for breast feeding and I could lay them out for him to play on

 

[PetiteMoi]

From what everyone in US and Canada are describing, it's definitely a muslin cloth.

You do need lots of them especially as you have a 'pukey' baby who sicks a lot (like our DD did!) You use them to have on your shoulder to protect your clothes as you carry them around, in their cot to protect the pillow/mattress, to wipe up sick, to wipe their mouth after eating...We literally had them everywhere

 

[J.D.]

It's not a muslin cloth. I'm from Canada, and have searched high and low for receiving blankets, but they just don't exist in the British Isles as far as I can tell. Muslins seem to be used for the same things as receiving blankets, but they are definitely not the same material.

I'd love some nice receiving blankets though... *runs away to ebay*

Edit: Actually, I'll get my mom to bring some over when they arrive. Yay for lovely soft receiving blankets, especially for a November baby.

 

[lovehearts]

ooo Ill go and google! I just assumed they were the same. xx

 

[Pansy]

Ah ok, I understand a bit more. Thanks everyone. I've got some muslin clothes, so I've got the puking covered. I can sew, so could sew some if I could work out what material I needed and what size. So are they as big as a blanket? Or the same size as a muslin cloth?

Do I need any actually if I have muslins?

(I've always been around babies - why do I feel like I've never seen one before ever since I got pregnant?! I'm so confused!)

 

[J.D.]

Pretty sure they're used as the same thing, so if you have muslins, you're good. I grew up using receiving blankets, so I just feel like my baby should have them too!

 

[sheldonsmommy]

Think flannelette blankets.

If you know anyone who can sew get them to make you some big ones , the stuff you but from the store are tiny and kind useless.

My mom made me some and I swaddled my son with them , used them as a cover for breast feeding and I could lay them out for him to play on

My son wouldn't sleep unless he was wrapped up tightly in a receiving blanket!

 

[BubsMom17]

In the US, the muslin cloths are "burp cloths," and "receiving blankets" are thin, flannel blankets, like the ones they use in the hospitals. I always used receiving blankets for swaddling, since they are not bulky and can be stretched nice and snug.

 

[Dream.dream]

Ah ok, I understand a bit more. Thanks everyone. I've got some muslin clothes, so I've got the puking covered. I can sew, so could sew some if I could work out what material I needed and what size. So are they as big as a blanket? Or the same size as a muslin cloth?

Do I need any actually if I have muslins?

(I've always been around babies - why do I feel like I've never seen one before ever since I got pregnant?! I'm so confused!)

Mine are about a yard by a yard and made of flannelette ( just surge the ends really easy) and its different as muslin is from what I am tell a burp cloth and a lot smaller

Receiving blankets are larger and for wrapping and swaddling ,

 

[PetiteMoi]

(I've always been around babies - why do I feel like I've never seen one before ever since I got pregnant?! I'm so confused!)

It will all come to you in time, in fact I wouldn't listen to people like myself going on about what you're going to need as you will find out as you go along, and you will be able to get all that stuff once the baby is here. I bought loads of unnecessary stuff I never even used because I listened too much to what other people were telling me!

 

[Pansy]

Thank you Petite Moi, that sounds really sensible advice. It's so easy to get obsessed with getting prepared for baby, I forget I can still buy things after they arrive!