Confused about blankets/swaddling/sleeping bags

[Gobletoffire]

Hi everyone. This might sound like a really stupid question but what does a newborn baby sleep in at night? My baby boy is due end of March, I’ve bought a couple of sleeping bags at 2.5 tog in the hope to use these but have read that these are safest to use when baby is a bit bigger and not to use straight away. So what do I do for the first few weeks? I’ve also bought some cellular blankets. Do I swaddle with these? Or do I just need to make sure baby has enough clothing on so he doesn’t get cold, and use no blankets at all? What is safest?

Any advice with what their newborn has slept in previously will be much appreciated!

Bumping for you as I'm in the same spot! So confused by all the advice out there it's nice to hear from people with real experience.

I purchased a SnugGro (it’s a swaddle that can be adapted into a grobag. It came with a thermometer and a guide to what baby should be wearing underneath. I’ll try and find a link.
I do prefer to put blankets on her but I wanted to try swaddling and didn’t feel comfortable doing it with blankets

www.boots.com/gro-snug-swaddle-and-newborn-grobag-rainbow-spot-cosy-10206367?cm_mmc=bmm--Google+Boots+PLAs--(GB:Whoop!)+Boots+Shopping+-+Category+-+Baby+-+High+Margin+-+Mobile-_-(GB:Whoop!)+Gro&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_6a807LZ3gIV1uJ3Ch0rOQ68EAQYAiABEgLHwPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Both of mine were escape artists. For daytime sleeps I used plain cellular blankets in the newborn days and at night I used a Miracle Swaddle Blanket or else newborn swaddle sacks (I had the Love 2 Dream Swaddle Ups which hold their hands by their heads in the position they tend to adopt naturally). I weaned from swaddle to sleeping bag at about 14 weeks.

Most 0-6 month sleeping bags have a minimum weight of about 9lb and tiny babies tend to sleep better swaddled to suppress the Moro reflex. It's your choice though.

It depends on the weight of the baby I think, mine were all big birth weights and could use sleepbags safely from birth, although dc2 preferred to be swaddled for a few months.

I did use blankets for day naps in Moses basket though, as I couldn’t preempt when they’d fall asleep to put them in bags....

It depends a lot on the size of your baby. I’m a bit of a Grocompany fan girl.

We had Grosnugs to start with which are basically grobags with no arm holes so the baby feels swaddled without squishing their hips.

When they got too big for the snugs we used Grobags.

Just follow the weight guidelines!

Also, do bear in mind that very tiny babies often have strong opinions about being "put down" to sleep, to wit: "Nope." So if baby is sleeping on or next to you, that will probably just be with blankets.

We use grosnugs with DD and she’s been pretty happy with it so far. She’s big enough to use a normal sleeping bag now but seems happy still feeling swaddled so we’ll keep using the grosnug for a while.

For an opposing view, Grosnugs just weren't tight enough on mine and they could easily move their arms around, so it didn't comfort them as a swaddle is meant to.

You can swaddle with any largeish blanket or muslin (old school midwives are pros at this and will hand you a perfectly content burrito with a head) but I could never create one my skinny fidgets wouldn't quickly break.

I always swaddle with sheets not blankets, in 2018 in a normal house no baby will get cold in a sleep suit, vest and a sheet but over heating could be dangerous

So, short answer for you, no doubt confused OP!

• you will want 2-3 blankets, preferably cellular
• you will probably want to switch to proper sleeping bags by 4 months
• your baby may be comforted by swaddling, which you can either do with a large muslin or various swaddle bags.

You can just get in blankets for now and play it by ear after the birth. As with all baby stuff, Amazon Prime will get it to you in 24 hours if needed.

My DS was born in october. I started swaddling with a cellular blanket but that was far too hot, so switched to swaddling with a large Muslim for the first few weeks

This was mostly for daytime naps though. At night We co slept for the first 6 months as I was breastfeeding, so he didn’t need any blankets at all

I'm due in January, and I have bought a really thin and light duvet (which is the norm where I'm from - we don't really use blankets) for the bed (. I will probably tuck the duvet under the foot end of the bed.

For the pram, I have a Voksi bag (a type of sleeping bag).

I am not going to swaddle - I have absolutely no clue about that.

@ZackPizzazz has nailed it! Stock up on cellulars as they're super useful. My DD didn't love a swaddle unless done by my SIL who's a midwife and has the Midas touch.
She's slept in a vest, babygrow and 2x cellular doubled over to just above waist height and loosely tucked round the feet and side of sleepyhead.

Went to grow bags (Sainsbury's or Asda, not the Gro ones) at 5 months.

I’ve bought grosnugs from newborn and then hopefully grosnugs for her to grow into. I know people who have said their babies won’t sleep in sleeping bags though so although I would prefer her to I have stocked up on a few cellular blankets just in case. I can always use these for the car seat/pram anyway.

We swaddled with a big muslin cloth for the first few weeks, the midwife did a demo on a cuddly toy to show us how. After he grew out of that we used cellular blankets or wool knitted blankets if it was very cold, and now at 9 months he goes in a sleeping bag.