Sleeping bags - looking for advice

[WaitingForBabyD]

I?m due in 5 weeks and just have a few more things to sort out, one being sleeping bags. I?d like to use sleeping bags and I?ve done lots of reading but am still a bit confused as to what I need. So, I have a few questions if anyone has any advice?
First off, how soon will I be able use a sleeping bag ? has anyone used them from birth or do you generally wait for babies to be a bit bigger?

Next, what tog should I use? Our room and the baby?s room are both warmish (21 degrees plus with the window open at the mo and they were about 24 at night when it was hot a month or so ago) should I use a 1 tog bag or would 2.5 tog be ok with less clothing on the baby?

Finally, any thoughts on brands? I read somewhere that slumbersac were good and I hear lots about gro-bags? Should I only use 100% cotton bags?

Is there anything else I should be thinking about?

We used them with both of our children. We didn't use them untill they were both a few months old. At this time of year, and even early Autumn you only want the lowest tog available. you have to be careful about your baby overheating, also you have to make sure the hole around the neck is right size so baby wont slip lower down in the bag.

Gro-bags are quite pricey (we used mothercare ones). As for 100% cotton, if you can afford that then thats good as it a breathable fabric.

Found this (sorry don't know how to link to it: www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/buyingforbaby/cotscribsbedding/bedding/

We swaddled for the first 3 months, this was last summer, in a lighter blanket then we used the grow bag, I bought one from birth but his head slipped inside so put it away for a while, plus I found he slept better swaddled at first as they have been sleeping all tightly wrapped inside you belly so its like home from home.
I dont think that Grobag ones are any better than the cheaper ones, my favourite ones were from Pumpkin Patch and Sainsburys.

DS hated being swaddled but loves being in a sleeping bag. We've been using then from when he was about 5 weeks as we were given one of the (ridiculously overpriced) merino kids cocooi bags for NB to 3 mths. Agree that the M/care bags are just as good as the Gro company ones. Keep an eye out for sales - they had a buy one/get one free offer a couple of months ago when DS was going up a size!

Personally I like Grobags but that is just that, a personal preference. We have quite a few, we bought all but one at £7/piece at NCT nearly new sales. Very good value. We swaddled DS for the first 6 weeks or so - it depends a bit on your baby, some love being swaddled, some don't, and small babies shouldn't be in bags from birth because they can slip through the neck hole, larger babies wouldn't have that problem.

Gro has a chart on their webpage, here:
www.gro.co.uk/2010010233/frequently-asked-questions.html#EEC33A9FE3AC407CADF9BF76D6578B43

which shows what TOG sleeping bag and what other bedclothes your baby should wear, in their opinion, depending on the temperature of the room. For example, it says there that at 20 degrees, you could either use a 2.5 TOG bag with your baby wearing a long-sleeved bodysuit underneath, OR you could use a 1 TOG sleeping bag with your baby wearing a short-sleeved bodysuit AND a pyjama top. Any warmer than that and they only recommend the 1 TOG bags. IME however we have hardly ever needed a 1 TOG bag - maybe for 2 weeks/year? But we do keep our sleeping areas cool if we can.

I use the 1 or 1.5 tog sleeping bags they tend to last longer, DS2's is 6-18 months and the next size we have is something like 1-3 years.
For a regular day he wears a vest, babygro and the bag, when it's warmer a long sleeved vest and the bag.
I prefer grobag, they are usually available cheaply in TK Maxx.

I think your only supposed to use them from 10lbs+ but at twenty degrees DS wears 2.5 tog plus long sleeved vest or 1.0 tog plus short sleeve vest plus sleepy suit.

Wevswaddled using swaddle me bags from amazon 5 mths then gro bags... Tk maxi has good value ones.