Emily was born in late November and we live in Brisbane. Our upstairs area isn't airconditioned....swaddling was just not an option. It was FAR too hot. Luckily Emily slept very well and didn't mind just being layed in her cot.
As she got older (about 4 months or so) it started getting colder and she was rolling around the cot so we put her in a growbag. It worked really well, I never had to worry about her getting cold. They're great.
Hi Chrissy!
This one's a bit hard because every baby is different. I know babies that didn't like being wrapped from the start! They would sleep quite happily with arms outstretched and their startle reflex didn't seem to bother them.
Gab had a big startle reflex for quite some time. She would only sleep when tightly wrapped with her arms down by her side. If she got so much as one finger out, she was awake!
As a newborn, I could wrap her in just about anything but I found that I preferred a bigger wrap that Fi had made for me - it was bigger than the "standard" sized bunny-rug.
I found muslin wraps absolutely useless and she'd bust out of them in no time.
As she got bigger and stronger, the only blankets that would keep her snug as a bug were 2 stretch polar-fleece blankets that I had bought before Gab was even conceived. They were fisher price brand - bright yellow with embroidered bugs on them. They were nice and big and had a good amount of stretch in them. Polar-fleece kind of acts a bit like two pieces of felt in that it will kind of stick to itself... so it was harder for Gab to get out. As the weather got hotter, it was a bit of a pain because she'd get pretty warm with the polar fleece around her. So I got into the habit of stripping her right down to her body suit before wrapping her.
On super hot days, I had to resort to wrapping her in a single bed sheet - which meant she didn't sleep nearly as well.
Gab was wrapped until she was 10 months old. It wasn't until I discovered her in bed one morning with her arms out and she was still asleep that I thought, perhaps, she might be ready to sleep unwrapped. We started with her naps then progressed to night time. This is when I switched to a sleeping bag. She wore on during the day for naps, then I still wrapped her at night.
She has been sleeping in a sleeping bag for a while now and it's great. Keeps her toasty warm. We've got a few different types of sleeping bags - some new, some second hand. The one I use the most is sleevless but Gab has a heater in her room (just one of those column ones to take the chill off the air) so I don't have to put any extra layers on her arms.
I wouldn't go out and spend a fortune on blankets/wraps/sleeping bags until bubs comes along, Chrissy. I did have a number of sleeping bags in size 000 that I never got to use because Gab was still wrapped (I sent them to Fletchy to use on Zane).
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