Are merino wool sleep bags worth it?

[ai38]

FTM here expecting DC in December and have been looking at options like these:

https://merinokids.co.uk/products/merino-kids-go-go-sleeping-bag-standard-weight-misty-rose-stripe-2021
https://merinokids.co.uk/products/merino-kids-go-go-sleeping-bag-standard-weight-bear-misty-rose

I can somehow justify the higher price tag considering that they don't operate on togs and can be used all year around plus they cover a longer age range from 3-24m. But wanted to hear first-hand experiences. The other thing is that they seem quite long in pictures. Are they really safe for 3 month-olds?

Also, does anyone know of a good merino wool sleep bag for newborns? The ones Merino Kids sell can only be put on the baby "by head" which is not ideal in my opinion.

Do they have complicated washing instructions? Babies posset, and their nappies leak. You need a sleeping bag to be able to withstand frequent washing (I'd avoid TK Maxx ones for this reason - the zips come off.)

We had the Superlove merino one, it's machine washable. I really liked not having to faff around with togs, and I should think price per use it was pretty cheap. But I'm not sure those ones are for very young babies, we used ours from around 12 months.

@BertieBotts Good point that I hadn't thought about tbh. The website says this: Machine-washable with a Woolmark detergent and wool cycle.

My criteria would be:
-Can get legs only out for nappy changes with minimal disruption
-Simple washing instructions as nappies leak and babies puke
-Several of them (see above) so not too expensive

Not sure those merino ones fit the criteria.

My favourite ones for newborns were the tommee tippee gro snuggle (can do arms in/out) and then mostly had a mix of basic tommee tippee gro bags and some generic john lewis ones. We also had some baby mori ones (not worth the money IMO) and some aden and anais muslin ones for really hot weather (they were good).

We had the super love merino ones. 0-24 months, think we started using around 2 months. I loved them. They were worn in cold winter and then hot summers all fine. I just washed easily with wool wash on 30. We have lots of other wool clothing anyway and Ds had lots of wool leggings so a wool wash each week worked.
They are packed away in loft now, and fabric as new quality tbh

@BirdIsland Thanks for mentioning Superlove. Just checking them now and it seems they do models that suit newborn to 2 year-olds, like this one: https://superlovemerino.com/collections/merino-sleep-bags/products/organic-merino-baby-sleeping-bag?variant=41213294247989
What I keep wondering is if it's really safe to put a newborn in such a long bag. Can't the long end somehow end up on their face during the night? Maybe I am overestimating the muscles' strength of a newborn!

The special detergent and special cycle would be too much for me; I tend to find that "hand wash only" items languish in the bottom of my laundry bin so I wouldn't (personally) want to go for that for an item that needs washing so frequently. Having young children is exhausting and simplifying everything as much as possible is one way to cope with that.

We don't all find the same things challenging so my opinion might not be helpful :) I will say that I only really used sleeping bags during the winter, and remember if your baby is due in December, they will be 3 months old in the spring when it's getting warmer. Cellular blankets are great for the newborn period, you could simply wait to see how you feel closer to the time. Unless there is some kind of short-term discount, it won't hurt to wait and buy next spring if you still want them then, and you'll know a bit more by then about what your baby likes, what your sleeping arrangements are, how much laundry complexity you can cope with etc. And if you find that you don't need them at that point because you're happy using blankets/have changed to using nothing as it's warmer, then you can reassess next autumn; at which point, the age range might be a bit less unusual since a 9-24 / 6-24 month sizing is fairly common.

The length of the bag isn't the issue with safety, but if they are in a moses basket then it might not physically fit in which could be an issue.

The opening for the neck is the important thing to look at for newborn safety. If it's too large then the baby could wriggle down and get stuck inside. Some of the sizes are given here: https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/which-safety-tests-uncover-dangerous-baby-sleeping-bags-axkJZ8U3ZejJ

They have extra poppers under the arms to make smaller.

Ds wore in pram carrycot a few times when we went out late in evening and it fitted fine, and at home he used them in next to me cot for the first 5-6 months.

We only stopped using them around 20 ish months as he could still climb out of cot wearing one and it was lethal. So moved him to cot bed sides off and duvet.

Yes I had those ones, and they're great. My child is 19 months and they're still going strong. I love that you can use them year round, no faffing over togs, and they're all natural (no polyester). We have two of those and one other sleep bag and that's been enough for us. And we just chucked them in the machine with non bio detergent on a 30 cycle.

The Superlove ones are 100% worth it imo. We had one of the nb-2yrs ones and moved DD into it as soon as she rolled (which was 10 weeks) and had to stop swaddling her. She wore all year round except in the summer heatwaves for two years and I never stressed too much about temperature or layers. Also they are very easy to care for, the Superlove ones can ever go in the dryer (though air-dry so quickly you don't need to).

She is upstairs sleeping in the toddler version right now!