Sleep Sack or Swaddle?
Hey there mama-Have you been wondering what all the hype is on sleep sacks and swaddles? Or maybe you’re a new mom and you’re wondering what the heck you should even register for. I was in the same boat and wish I knew what I was doing before I spent $50 on a sleep sack that was useless for the age and stage of sleep my daughter was in!
So let’s dive right in and I’ll help you with all I wish I knew!
the Swaddle:
(this is a swaddle)
Swaddles are a tight fit blanket for young babies, usually 0-2 months old. Swaddling is awesome for recreating the compact feeling babies felt while in the womb. They may not always act like they like it, but paired with some other soothing techniques it’s perfect for settling any fussy newborn.
Once they start rolling you’ll need to un-swaddle their arms and from then it’ll likely be time to transition to a sleep sack.
You can learn to hand swaddle using a blanket but there are other options now, like velcro swaddles. These options are actually better because they are safer and easier to use. Who wants to figure out hand swaddling with a screaming baby at 2AM? Not me 🫠
When able to velcro, your baby is less likely to get loose. When old-school swaddling, babies can break out and end up with a blanket covering their face- super unsafe and scary for a mama. With velcro swaddles that’s much more unlikely.
When you swaddle be sure to have the blanket line under their shoulders (so they are just peeking out). I suggest swaddling the arms down along their sides or slightly across their belly. Always lie your baby down on their back when you place them to sleep.
Newborn babies have what’s called a “moro reflex.” This is a startle reflex that causes them jerk their arms up- many times waking them up if asleep. By swaddling their arms in, this decreases that risk startling themselves to wake up. This reflex usually starts to fade around 2 months and will go away around 3 to 4 months.
At the first signs of rolling, start swaddling with their arms out and free- or transition to a sleep sack.
The Ollie is my personal favorite for swaddling because of how stretchy and compact it is.
When swaddling, swaddle tight enough so that they won’t come loose but snug enough where you can snuggly slide your hand between their swaddle and chest.
the Sleep Sack:
(this is a sleep sack)
Sleep sacks are a wearable blanket for your baby, usually 3-12 months+ old. I love sleep sacks for a number of reasons.
My favorite reason: They create a huge sleep association- that light switch that turns on and tells your baby its time to go to sleep.
They are so much safer than loose blankets and they can deter a lot of babies from trying to climb their crib railings.
There are some sleep sacks for transitioning your baby from being arms swaddled to arms un-swaddled, but I don’t buy em’ (literally). Well, actually once I did. I bought a 6 month transition swaddle by accident, thinking “transitioning” would happen at 6 months, but at the time I didn’t know what “transitioning” would even be. I just figured I would go from swaddle, to transition sack, to regular sleep sack.
Wrong, I was so wrong. These transition sleep sacks have weight arm sleeves and that transition (from arms swaddled in, to arms out) happens around 3 to 4 months, not 6.
My best advice when its time to start un-swaddling is to go into it cold turkey (instead of a slower transition like one arm in, one arm out) and expect a few “tougher” transition nights (a few more wakings, because hey their arms are suddenly free!).
Just remind yourself this is only temporary and the transition is what is best and safest for them.
I recommend the Burts Bees Sleep Sack and the DreamLand Baby Weighted Sleep Sack.
Now there are a couple things to keep in mind with DreamLand Baby Sleep Sacks:
They are weighted and not recommended by the AAP for Safe Sleep.
They will not fix your baby’s sleep issues, so don’t go spending oodles on them in hopes your baby will start sleeping through the night- only modifying your baby’s sleep life will do that (sleep training).
Wait for their big Black Friday sale if you wanna buy, they usually do a buy one get one and it’s well worth it when you’re paying $90 per sack.
With that being said, I still love them for our baby girl and frankly so does she.
Okay my last big piece of advice- buy a back up of your swaddle and sleep sack!
That way when it’s laundry day or you have a midnight blow out you have a back up to use!
All sleep sacks are sized by age and weight so always stay within your baby’s correct range (don’t size up in this case).
Alright my friends, I hope this helped all you new and soon to be mamas out there figure out all your sleep sack, swaddle questions.
As always sleep well,
Sar