Swaddles and Sleep Sacks

You never understand how truly important swaddles and sleep sacks are until you begin to realize that finding the perfect one may be the key to getting a good night's (or any) sleep for you!

One size literally does not fit all and one type of swaddle will not work forever. Babies that still have the Moro (startle) reflex sleep longer periods of time in swaddles because it keeps them from waking themselves up. Once they roll over it is no longer safe to swaddle their arms but many babies still sleep better in some sort of sleep sack. Plus, it is still a huge risk to have blankets and such in their crib with them until they are over a year old.

Some of our swaddles were given to us. Others were just trial and error of what worked. Unfortunately swaddles are not typically sold at used kids stores so I squirreled away coupons to big box baby stores to buy them.

What we have tried:
1. Swaddleme by Summer Infant
These run small but they worked well when our guy was really little as a tight swaddle. He's a tiny hulk and managed to regularly get an arm out, though. We were given a couple of these at our baby shower by someone who swore by them. Since they worked rather well when he first came home, we bought a few more because he inevitably would spit up on the one he was wearing and need an outfit change.

2. HALO SleepSack
We went in and out of using these. I initially was not a big fan of the HALO sleepsacks when we first brought our little guy home because I felt he was drowning in fabric. When we went through the 4 month sleep regression, though, I dug one of our lighter HALO sleepsacks out and they ended up working perfectly during that time. These sleep sacks also appeared to do better at keeping his arms contained.

3. Swaddle UP 50/50
I used these when our little guy needed to be swaddled but kept breaking out of the Swaddleme swaddles. It allowed him to have his arms up around his face like he liked, but muffled his Moro reflex. They do run VERY small so our son outgrew them very quickly.

4. Nested Bean Zen Sack
I happened to hear about these and was curious. They have weighted beans on the chest area of the sleep sack that make baby feel like someone is holding them. I bought one on a whim and we love them! I feel like it definitely helps our little guy sleep better at night and we have been using them for several months since he was about 2 months old.