Product Review-Sleep Blankets, Swaddles, etc.

There are all kinds of information (overwhelming) regarding sleep. It honestly created the most anxiety for me. I was so concerned that Baby T would be cold...or hot...or not comfortable. But mostly the concern is about safety. There are so many horror stories floating around about devastating things happening to babies in their sleep. The first few nights with Baby T, I made my husband sleep so I could stay awake and stare at her, then I slept when he woke up in the morning. I mean, I just couldn't fathom feeling comfortable enough to sleep while she slept. Of course that initial panic and fear subsided a bit, but for me, still hasn't gone away fully even now and she is six months old.

Sleep sacks/swaddles, etc. seem to be how a lot of babies sleep. I heard all about them and saw them in the stores while I was pregnant. We got a few as gifts and Baby T loved being swaddled so they were awesome.

receiving blankets

At first, for naps during the day, we used receiving blankets as Baby T was a tiny 5 pounds 6 ounces coming home from the hospital. (We tried these for overnight sleep as this is how she slept in the hospital, but I was too nervous to do it for long--a few nights at the most.) These worked well until she got a little stronger (a week maybe?) and she was able to wiggle which made me worry that she would get the blanket too loose and it would cover her face. We did continue using them for naps as long as she was monitored while she slept. You can find these everywhere and they have a million different uses. Some examples here and here.

easy swaddle- aden + anais

For night time sleep, we used the aden + anais easy swaddles seen here. I really liked these. Not only do they come in different sizes, they also have adjustable snaps to loosen/tighten the swaddle as baby grows or feels more comfortable. The material is lightweight so depending on how you keep your house, then you can dress baby in pjs underneath or either a onesie. We used a onesie and socks for a while. They also have an option for organic material if you so choose. They are more secure for wiggly babies and eased my mind when it came to Baby T getting anything over her face. Thee were a few times that she wiggled her arms up towards her face so far that some of the material bunched up near her face. Its a little loose in the first picture below and fits much better in the second picture. I didn't like this, but figured out that if you pull the material down and then tightly around her shoulders, it helped this issue a lot. Here she is in these aden + anais easy swaddle.

aden + anais swaddle blankets

As Baby T outgrew the receiving blankets, we used the swaddle blankets by a + a seen here. These are awesome as well. They're large enough to swaddle bigger/longer babies easily, lightweight material and comes in organic as well. We used these for naps, but not night sleeping for baby for the same reason--if she wiggled too much, then the blankets came undone and risked covering her face. She is 14 pounds, 26 inches at 6 months and can still be swaddled in these if we choose to do so for naps. I've used these for many different things including, a carseat cover if its bright out on a walk or in the car and she's napping (also works great to keep strangers away from your new baby if you have to go out in public with them), she snuggles with the soft material sometimes, I cover her legs from the sun in the stroller with these, and I stuffed them in the bottom of my ergo until she was big/tall enough to not need extra support. Endless ways to use these.

Here is an example of her wiggling out of the swaddle and is why she didn't sleep unmonitored with them.

See more on swaddles.


***These are solely my opinions due to my own experiences with this product. This is not a sponsored post.***