Sleeping bags - when and how

Hi,

Not sure if this questions has already been asked but at what age should I look at moving my DS from his wrap to a sleeping bag? Does a sleeping bag mean they can still move around in the cot? Is it safe or is it a gimik? And what tog should I go for.

My husband would like to put him to bed with no wrap or sleeping bag but I believe it's a comfort thing that DS needs. How do we go about moving him from wrapping (currently wrapped with arms up and fairly loose) to a sleeping bag with free arms. I heard that you should gradually leave one arm out and then the next?

Any hinters, experiences would be a great help.

Thanks
Ella

Hi Ella,

DS was in a sleeping bag from around 5 months. Before that he really like to be wrapped, but once he started writhing around trying to free his arms I would wrap him with both arms out (he didnt like them in there anyway so I didnt see the poiint doing one at a time) and then put him in a bag after that.

It did take a few days for him to get use to it, becuase we wrapped reasonable snugly in comparison to a bag, so I had my mum in my ear saying 'ooh see he doesnt like it' blah balh. After a couple of days he was fine, and he stayed sleeping in a sleeping bag until close to 2 years old.

As for tog ratings, it depends on the temperature inside the babys room, and what else he is wearing to bed

If you google grobag their site has a section on what tog for what temperateure. There are a lot of other good brands that are up to 50% cheaper than them. I have used 3 or 4 different brands of sleeping bags and they have all been fine.

The thing to look for is that they are sleeveless and generally not made from fleece.

2.5 tog bags will generally be high fire danger - this is the same with bedding of the same/simlar rating - you need to keep in mind that the bag is bedding not pjs. What evr the bub wears underneath should be low fire danger.

DD was in a sleeping bag from about 4 months.
She slept so much better in it. We just a put a bonds suit on underneath it she still moves around the cot a bit and has done since we started, but my theory was...she was still warm even after she kicked the blanket off. :)
Good luck with it.
xx

DS was in a sleping bag from 10 weeks.

I love grobags and dreambags they have tog rating. 1 tog is middle of the road temps and most use, you can just vary what they are dressed in depending on temperatures.

we only just put our DS into a sleeping bag recently. it took him a while to get used, he was previously being fully wrapped and loved it! but as he had started to roll and move around in the cot alot i was concerned he would get stuck on his tummy and not be able to use his arms to roll back over. it took 2 hard weeks of broken nights sleep but was well worth it, he now loves his Grobag! i find that brand to be the best - so far - i use the 1 and 2.5 tog but am still getting used to how to dress him underneath. i think if you just put him into bed without a sleeping bag or wrap you might find he'll soon be getting out from the sheets and waking up cold. this way you'll be sure he's snug all night.
good luck!

My DS was in a sleeping bag at 8 weeks and DD was in a sleeping bag at 3 days old LOL.

Both my babies are tall and kick off their covers.

For DS I transitioned him from being fully wrapped to having one arm out to no arms out. Then I put him in a sleeping bag with a light cotton blanket tucked in tightly over the top to make him feel secure. I started when DS was starting to escape from his wrap, which was at about 6 weeks.

DD - from when she was wrapped up at just a few hours old, she wriggled and carried on and cried and fought the wrap till she had her arms out. I thought she was too young but it was the middle of the night and I wanted to go back to bed so I decided to see how she reacted to the sleeping bag. So I dug it out, put her in it and magic! Asleep in less than 5 minutes. Haven't looked back. She didn't even like having the cotton blanket tucked in around her, she's even more of a wriggler than DS.

I assume your DH is worried about weaning your baby off the sleeping bag. In fact, the sleeping bag for both DS and DD has had a real benefit as a sleep association - they know that sleeping bag means sleep time and they both always immediately snuggled down into it.

When DS moved into a big boy's bed we still put him in a sleeping bag into bed but would just gently suggest every night that he could sleep like a big boy under the covers just like Mummy and Daddy. He was on board with that idea after about a week and only once or twice asked for his sleeping bag on nights when he was overtired, but otherwise it was all gone with no trouble whatsoever.

As you can tell I am a huge fan of the sleeping bag. No dealing with the kicking off of covers.

HTH.

ETA: I use Bubbaroo sleeping bags. I like them because you can get them in plain white which means that they can be handed down to the next bub with no gender colour/picture issues and if there was ever a poo blowout they can be soaked in Napisan without worrying about colours fading. You can now get the Bubbaroos in pale blue, pale pink and mocha if you don't like the plain white. At the time I bought mine they were only available in white but that was a big reason I was sold on them!

They come in a lightweight, mediumweight and heavyweight version. Can't remember the tog number and both DS and DD are asleep so I can't go into their rooms to rummage around. Just google Bubbaroo.

The lightweight ones are plain cotton and great for really hot summer nights. We usually use the mediumweight which are cotton towelling lined and I just change what they wear underneath according to the weather, eg a short sleeve bodysuit, long sleeve bodysuit with no legs or a full length Bonds coverall.

I do have the heavyweight bags and even though I am in Melbourne I hardly used them with DS because our house is quite warm and he was a "hot" sleeper. We haven't done a Melbourne winter with DD yet but even so I am not sure I will use them with her either.

And yes, they are safe. There is no risk of bub pulling the covers over their head. DD does this with blankets all the time and so she now has the sleeping bag for her naps too.