Newborn sleep - swaddle, blanket or Grobag

[Alice925]

Hi,
38 weeks pregnant here and just trying to get all in order before the baby comes.
Just wondering what people do when the baby is a newborn.
Did you swaddle straightway? Is it for all naps and sleeps? If so what did you use?
I have various blankets and muslins but not sure what to use. Do you also need a blanket if you swaddle the baby?

I've also been gifted some 0-6 month sleep bags but they seem huge to use for a newborn

Any advice would be great

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MNHQ

No swaddling if you bedshare, it's not safe. It's fine if they are in their own cot/sleep space though :) Also you have to stop once they can roll, in case they roll over then can't get themselves back.

The 0-6 month sleeping bags are too big for little newborns - they normally have a minimum weight on them but be careful. Which? did a report on them a year or two ago I think and found the neck openings are too small on a lot of them. You need to be sure they can't slip down inside it otherwise the safety benefit of them is negated!

Cellular blankets are practical so it's worth having one or two around. You might only use them for a few weeks until your baby fits into the sleeping bag.

I am so confused about this because I like the idea of swaddling to sleep, so no loose blankets, but then someone said swaddling can make it harder for the baby to keep cool enough, or something like that.

So I don’t know. Find the whole thing quite terrifying to be honest!

If you use a cellular blanket, do you put a sheet under it or just tuck it straight in over their clothes?

Just the blanket, no sheet :) The blanket counts as a layer, a sheet would too.

I wouldn't worry too much about overheating in a swaddle as long as you're not covering their head.

@BertieBotts

No swaddling if you bedshare, it's not safe. It's fine if they are in their own cot/sleep space though :) Also you have to stop once they can roll, in case they roll over then can't get themselves back.

The 0-6 month sleeping bags are too big for little newborns - they normally have a minimum weight on them but be careful. Which? did a report on them a year or two ago I think and found the neck openings are too small on a lot of them. You need to be sure they can't slip down inside it otherwise the safety benefit of them is negated!

Cellular blankets are practical so it's worth having one or two around. You might only use them for a few weeks until your baby fits into the sleeping bag.

Thanks for this. I was/am nervous about blankets and about cosleeping when reading through the comments as would like to make sure I'm being SIDS conscious, and always thought swaddling seemed a bit cruel/ weird (but then I'm also creeped out by baby photo shoots!). I'm due in July and had previously assumed that it might be warm enough to not use any blankets/ sleeping bags etc until the point that he is definitely enough for a sleeping bag. Maybe I'm being unrealistic/ naive though and should look at some of the newborn swaddle/ sleeping bag hybrid things mentioned!

Thanks so much @BertieBotts

Different babies like different things. Some need swaddling, some hate it.
Wait until they're here.

From experience new borns like to be swaddled.
But it's what works for your baby and you and you won't know this until baby has arrived.
Good luck

Purple if you're going to co-sleep what I found perfect in the early days was a big (cotbed sized or bigger) cellular blanket. I tuck the duvet behind me, put the cellular blanket over baby and my own tummy, which gets a bit cold. In July it might be warm enough to go without but there's something pyschological about having a blanket.

We didn't swaddle at all and just used cellular blankets. Didn't worry about sleeping bags at all until baby was much older and mobile.

I have ordered a couple of grosnugs or newborn snuggles as they seem to be called now. This type of thing

www.smythstoys.com/uk/en-gb/baby/tommee-tippee/tommee-tippee-grobag-0-4-months-2-5-tog-baby-stars-snuggle/p/188883?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=surfaces_across_google

I have ordered a 2.5 tog and a 1tog but I won’t unwrap the 1 tog initially as I think it might be too small by the time it is warmer. Lots of the reviews say it runs really small.

Wondering about this too, neck looks quite big but maybe the sleeves stop it riding up? Also quite thin though and it says designed to be used without extra bedding.

www.jojomamanbebe.co.uk/elephant-print-newborn-sleepy-sac-b1500.html

Similarly with the one below, not really sure if designed to sleep in?

www.amazon.co.uk/Swaddle-Newborn-Blanket-Organic-Swaddles/dp/B07KRMD9T4/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&s=baby&keywords=Little+Seeds&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1616728939&sr=1-2

Hope you don’t mind OP, just bumping in case anyone has any feedback on the products I linked being the kind of thing we are looking for or not.