Growbag/sleep sack

[TeacupTempest]

Not sure if this is the right place but I am looking at growbags/sleepsacks for when LO is born in December.

They all seem to leave arms exposed. Is this going to keep baby warm enough?

We intend to co-sleep.

Thanks

Yes, the arms are meant to be exposed so that the baby doesn't overheat. You can have him/her with a long sleeved sleepsuit/vest underneath it so they won't have bare arms anyway.

I'm not sure if they are suitable to use from birth - mine had a minimum weight which my teeny daughters took a while to get to, so I started using them from about 6 weeks.

I have seen some that have detachable arms and some that allow swaddling. Any benefits to these or should they be avoided. Really not sure whats for the best...

Our cottage is very old and can get chilly, especially as DH and I tend to like the bedroom not too warm. Having said that as its only very small the cottage heats up quite well too.

Too many decisions!

If you're co-sleeping baby keeps very warm anyway! My DS was born in august and he came in with us with just a vest and long sleeve sleepsuit. Now it's cold I put him in the vest, sleepsuit and a sleeveless 1.5 tog gro bag. I also put an extra pair of socks on top of the sleep suit so he doesn't wake from having cold feet.

I don't think you'd need to swaddle if you were co-sleeping! And you can only swaddle for the first month, so those special velco swaddle blankets are a waste of money. Just go on youtube and learn to swaddle with a normal cellular blanket.

I've never seen a sleeping bag with arms, The ones DS has have shoulder straps that I can just un-popper for nightime changing, or slip him into when he's asleep. Ones with arms seem like a bit of a fuss really! As long as he has a long sleeve suit on and a vest that's enough coverage.

I'd also reccomend when you're buying sleepsuits, some of them have arms that have cuffs on the end which fold over babies hands. I didn't notice till recently that some of them do, (all his ones from next do, basic ones from asda and tesco don't). It's a fab idea and stops him needing scratch mits at night and stops his fingers getting cold!

If you intend to co sleep,be careful not to cover baby with your duvet as well as baby being in the sleeping bag as that could well lead to overheating.

Asda were doing a sleeping bag with detachable arms. Sleeping bags generally should not be used for babies under 10lbs, although I don't know why.