Today’s Real Mom Dilemma, comes from Mama to be J. Mama J has some great questions and ones that I asked myself too – which “wearable blanket” option is best? This may be another one of those every-baby-is-different thing but it is definitely helpful to hear others experiences. If you are new to The Wise Baby, Real Mom Dilemmas are real problems that come from real moms. We post them here in hopes that our other mom readers can lend their advice and experience to help another mom out. Be sure to leave a comment on this post with your advice, experience or even issues of your own. If you have a dilemma you’d like to see featured, send it to me here (we never use real names!).
My biggest concern is what happens when my little one outgrows the sleeping option? I have had friends that have had a great sleeper when their baby was swaddled and then once they had to stop swaddling they regressed to a not so good sleeper. This leads me to think maybe I should never swaddle. If I am crazy for thinking this – please tell me!
So as I am entering my last two months of restful nights I would LOVE, LOVE to get some opinions and advice on what works best for other moms. I really appreciate any and all advice y’all might have!
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I would try to have one of each on hand when baby is born. We had one SwaddleMe and various Halo sleep sacks and the Carter’s equivalent of the sleep sack (the only difference is the Carter’s has sleeves) so we were ready to try any of them out to see what baby liked.
Turns out he hated being swaddled – the look of panic on his little three day old face when we tried it at home and he couldn’t access his arms made us realize pretty quick that swaddling wasn’t for us! However, he loves loves loves his sleep slacks, so that’s what we used after the swaddling debacle, and we still use now.
I do like the Halo ones the best because of their size. They are nice and wide. He’s still in the small sack, and there’s still plenty of room for him to kick and move his legs. The Carter’s ones seem to be quite a bit smaller.
If you’re registering, register for all the different options. If they don’t work for your family, you can always donate them or pass them on to another mama, right?
Great advice on trying each one Cristina! We did the same thing. I registered for a couple of each and we ultimately like the HALO sleepsacks the best too! Thanks for sharing your thoughts! xo
We used SwaddleMe for the first couple of months. Our baby girl liked them, but I found that they stretched out and the velcro wore out pretty quickly. When she was about 2 months we discovered the halo sleepsacks swaddle, which has the velcro sides to swaddle but can then be used as a regular wearable blanket when she eventually outgrew being swaddled. These things are amazing! If I had known about them in the first place, I would have used them exclusively. You can also get them in fleece or cotton.
Thanks for sharing your experience Adria (gorgeous name by the way!). I love that the HALO sacks come in cotton or fleece – great for all seasons!
Every baby is different. Our little guy loved the sleep sacks (halo brand) he was a mover from day one so it was hard to keep him swaddled. He slept in it at night and for some naps. We slowly transitioned out of it at 3 months (mainly bc I didn’t want to purchase new ones)
By then the startling reflex has gone away and they won’t wake themselves up as much. Hope this helps! Remember it may be hard at first to transition but you can still do it!
Eloise is a mover too Teresa! I agree that the sleep sacks were better than the Miracle Blanket for such an active baby. Good point about the startle reflex going away around 3/4 months, same thing happened with us. Thanks for sharing your experience! xo
Hallo Swaddle Sleep Sacks are our favorite! We aren’t a fun of swaddleMe although I have friends that swear by them. I also like carters sleep sack just to have in case baby doesn’t want to be swaddled
the hallo Swaddle sack converts to just a wearable sack and comes in cotton and fleece…totally worth the money when trying to Swaddle in the middle of the night 
out little guy sleeps great during the day without being swaddled …. We Swaddle at night because it keeps him sleeping a bit longer and he is easier to put back to sleep in the Hallo 
good luck!!!
Great point about swaddling in the middle of the night Katie! Especially in the early weeks it is so nice to have a built in swaddle helper in the sleep sack! Glad you guys liked sleep sacks as much as we did! Thanks for taking a minute to help Mama J out!
Oh and I highly recommend swaddling! Our little girl’s involuntary reflexes would have definitely kept her up in the beginning and you will want your baby to sleep as much as possible and be as rested as possible for your own sanity as a new mommy ( I was just there!). There are ways to help your baby transition out of being swaddled. Which I don’t have to list here, but can definitely share with you if you want to exchange emails. We just went through it. My daughter is 4 months now and has been sleeping without a swaddle for about a month. There was about a week that she regressed, but then got used to it and back to sleeping through the night! …Oh and another advantage of the halo sleepsack swaddle is that you can easily swaddle her with one arm out and not worry about the whole blanket coming off or apart when you are beginning to transition her out of being swaddled.
I cannot recommend the Miracle Blanket enough! We lasted a couple of weeks of trying to swaddle with regular blankets and my son would get his hands out of the swaddle and wake himself up with the startle reflex. I bought the Miracle Blanket and he SLEPT for 5-6 hours that night!! We never looked back. Every night I would swaddle him after his bath, nurse him (he would fall asleep) and then put him down. He was sleeping through the night by 1.5 months and has been a great sleeper ever since. We had no problems transitioning out of the swaddle. The baby will start “breaking out” of the swaddle when he is ready. Also, he knew it was time for bed whenever we started the swaddle.
He’s now 13 months old and we have him in the halo sleepsacks. He sleeps an average 12 hours every night.
Leigh, great to hear you loved the Miracle Blanket! I know lots of other moms have the same feedback. And sleeping through the night at 1.5 months sounds ah-mazing! Sounds like you have a good sleeper on your hands!
Thanks so much for sharing your experience!
I highly recommend swaddling too. I found the best ones were just a basic blanket, but you need to master the technique, which isn’t very hard. My favourites were from Pottery Barn kids. I received some as a gift with my second and wished I had them for my first. After they are done with swaddling, sleep sacks are AWESOME! Like swaddling, sleep sacks ‘signal’ bedtime. Both worked perfect for my girls. With sleep sacks though, make sure they are the right size for your baby and depending on where you live and the temperature, get the proper material. I bought a fleece one for cold summer nights (here in Canada) and a thin cotton one for hot nights. Dress accordingly underneath.
Sonja, great feedback! You are likely a swaddling pro! Glad to hear the sleepsacks are working for you too. I definitely think that a sleep sack signals nap/bed time to Eloise which is important. Also, good point on the temperature/material. We still use both cotton and fleece even though its winter – just warmer underneath the cotton and cooler underneath the fleece. Thanks so much for sharing your invaluable insight! xo
I have tried every swaddle imaginable! I liked the SwaddleMe and Halo because they were easy to get on, but the Velcro would scare my son during late night diaper changes. The Miracle Blanket worked for awhile but he was able to get out of that by 2 1/2 months. Finally we found the Woombie. It is by far the best swaddle I think. It really mimics how a baby would feel in the womb versus other swaddles where their hands are tight down at their sides. They have a lot of options and we started out with one of the more secure then moved to a less secure one. It also uses a zipper so it is easy and fast to put on and off. As for transitioning out of the swaddle, the ZippadeeZip is magic! It only took us 2 days to transition (started with naps the first day). My son loves it! Good luck with whatever you decide to do!
Jenn! You are awesome! You just helped me learn about a new product – the ZippadeeZip! I have already ordered one for Eloise. What a great product! Thank you so much for sharing your experience as well as product recs with us! xo
I have tried every swaddle imaginable! I liked the SwaddleMe and Halo because they were easy to get on, but the Velcro would scare my son during late night diaper changes. The Miracle Blanket worked for awhile but he was able to get out of that by 2 months. Finally we found the Woombie. It really mimics how a baby would feel in the womb versus other swaddles where their hands are tight down at their sides. They have a lot of options and we started out with one of the more secure then moved to a less secure one. It also uses a zipper so it is easy and fast to put on and off. As for transitioning out of the swaddle, the ZippadeeZip is magic! It only took us 2 days to transition (started with naps the first day). My son loves it! Good luck with whatever you decide to do!