Buttermilk Babies bamboo swaddling blankets (guest review)

My name is Gillie. I am a 30-year-old Canadian mumma living in Vietnam. I met my incredible Kiwi husband in London, England, seven years ago and he has been my life and travel partner ever since.

Our remarkable son was born seven months ago in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam — our home for the past four-plus years. Our new travel companion has already visited four countries, nine cities and has filled us with a new sense of purpose and exploration.

As expats in S.E. Asia, we are able to maintain a lifestyle of luxury holidays, champagne brunches and culture-a-gogo at the cost of a monthly Canadian heating bill.

As International School teachers, we work incredibly hard to educate young people in hopes that they will become intelligent global citizens. As parents, we work even harder to make sure we have enough energy and time to invest in our own young person.

The luxury is seemingly less these days, and the balance is fine — and hardly ever balanced, to be honest.

But every smile, every cuddle and every new development that our little creation brings, makes the yoga marathon that is our lives the perfect life to lead.

*****************************************************************

There comes a moment in every new mother’s life where you can’t be told another suggestion for a “must-have” baby item. Scratch that — you can’t stand to hear another suggestion. Full stop.

And for some people, that point comes much sooner than later.

As a mother who lives in Vietnam, I lead a relatively clutter-free, yuppie-crap-free life.

I don’t need the best of anything. In fact, I don’t need much at all. Everyday, I encounter examples of people who have next to nothing and have everything they need all at once. Happy faces in tin shacks. Babies wrapped in dad’s old shirt. People making it work.

I am lucky enough to have a high salary in a city with a very low cost of living and can reap the benefits of travelling and fine-dining whenever I have time off. However, I prefer to keep it simple (and cheap). My son sleeps in a second-hand crib, glides along in a second-hand pram and I even used a second-hand breast pump. Like I said, I have what I need — and I don’t need much more than that.

So when I arrived home to Canada to introduce my beautiful baby boy to my family, I was dreading the thought of hearing about the latest and greatest baby stuff from my gear-savvy cousin [Editor’s note: that would be moi.].

Now, let’s be clear — It’s not that I don’t have an appreciation for fine things, or that I have a single ounce of disrespect for my cousin. I just don’t care about all of the “stuff,” you know?

So you can imagine my face when she handed me a set of Buttermilk Babies receiving blankets and exclaimed, “These are the best blankets you will ever touch!”

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I thought. It’s a freakin’ blanket! Of course it’s soft, but let’s not lose our marbles over a piece of cloth that he’s going to ark all over.

Oh! How wrong I was…

THE GOOD

The Buttermilk Babies bamboo blankets are lovely! The gender-neutral colours really appeal to our family and the unusual prints (like houseflies and paisley leaves) make them easy to identify at the end of a play date.

They really are the best blankets that you will ever touch! I have washed these blankets at least 30 times and they are still just as soft as the day Andrea handed me the package.

Their soft but thin fabric make them the perfect find for a family living in a hot climate. We are constantly on the lookout for fabrics that we can use to protect the wee man from the fierce sun, without increasing perspiration. We use them as crib sheets, as they breathe nicely and are large enough to tuck the wee man into. They would have been my go-to for swaddling if I had been gifted them earlier.

That’s right — they are huge! This is great if you have a littl’n who is “all hands” like ours. The art of simply throwing a receiving blanket over my shoulder has never come easily to me, as my little guy quite swiftly pulls it down. But these blankets are big enough for me to tie around my neck and cover the babe and I completely when breastfeeding.

They are made from bamboo! This fun fact cracks me up, to be honest. The recent wave of organic, all-natural, everything-free enthusiasts always light up when I tell them that the blankets are made from bamboo.

Shortly after their faces light up, I tell them that rayon has always come from bamboo, and their hipster grins turn to humble pie in a hot second. This might sound silly, but this is one of my favourite things about the blankets. They really are a conversation piece.

Finally, my son loves them! We have all kinds of fabric slices at home that he can barf on. But these are the only ones that he chooses to nuzzle. And that, my friends, says in all, n’est pas?

THE GAFFE

These is absolutely nothing to knock about these gorgeous, soft, breathable receiving blankets. They truly are a find and I am forever grateful to my cousin for her gear-savvy ways. Get some – like now!

THE GEARS

5/5