Every mother is familiar with the night excitement for her child, whether he is a month old, 1 year old or five years old - but did he open up, did the blanket fall, does the child freeze? Such a useful invention as a sleeping bag helps to get rid of worries about this. We will tell you more about how to choose it.
Features, advantages and disadvantages
Those who like to relax in nature, go to the forest with an overnight stay, know how comfortable and useful a sleeping bag can be. A baby bag allows you to give your baby the same feeling of comfort and warmth even on cold winter nights in a poorly heated apartment. Many parents in such extreme conditions prefer to furnish the child's room with heaters that mercilessly dry the air and cause serious damage to the health of their son or daughter. Cool air, according to pediatricians, is much more useful, but the child should not freeze. The way out is to buy or sew a sleeping bag for children.
There are bags not only for winter, but also for summer, there are universal bags with a warm liner that can be removed with the onset of spring. Manufacturers have tried to cater to different age categories - there are bags for newborns, there are bags for children under 2 years old, up to 3 years old, and even at 5-6 years old, a child will be able to sleep in a “maxi” size bag.
The advantage is that no matter how the baby turns around in a dream (and there are very mobile children who spin not only during the day, but also at night!), He will not be left without heat, a correctly chosen bag does not hinder movements. You can take it with you on the road, on a trip, on a visit, so that the child can more easily fall asleep in an unfamiliar environment. Some models are even equipped with special carrying bags in which the sleeping bag can be compactly packed if necessary.
A constant temperature is kept inside the bag all night - this is useful. And when the baby starts to stand up, the sleeping bag will save him from falling out of the crib, since it is much more difficult to get up in it when he wakes up, and even more so to throw his leg over the bed rail. Disadvantages can be seen only in models for newborns and babies up to 3 years old - such sleeping bags require the purchase of very high-quality diapers so that the bag does not get wet and dirty. It is not very convenient for a baby in a bag to change clothes at night if the diaper is overflowing or dirty. In addition, not all children unconditionally accept the conditions of the game - some flatly refuse to sleep in a bag.
Children aged 2-3 years not always, waking up in the dark in the middle of the night, can quickly get out of the sleeping bag on their own in order to urgently go to the potty, incidents can occur. In general, a sleeping bag is a great item for a baby and a good gift for a baby.
Kinds
Sleeping bags for newborns can be with or without sleeves. It's a matter of taste. Some parents from childhood prefer to give the baby more freedom, others are fans of swaddling and do not want the child to wake himself up, chaotically waving his arms. If you have to choose a sleeping bag as a gift, then you can take a warm version with sleeves that can be adjusted, so the baby will last longer. There are models in which the sleeves can be completely unfastened as unnecessary.
Both bags for toddlers and older children are most often fastened with a zipper. It can be located around the perimeter of the fabric, or it can be in the middle. For large sleeping bags, the second method is more often used. The fastener itself can be double and unidirectional. Baby bags up to a year replace not only a sheet and a blanket for a child, but can also be a means of "transportation", since they have straps and handles for carrying - the mother simply takes them and carries the child wherever needed ...
Material and design
Usually, manufacturers try to sew sleeping bags for sleeping at home from natural fabrics that do not cause allergies in contact with delicate baby skin. These are different types of knitwear and cotton. Warm winter models are often sewn with the addition of wool. For insulation, a hypoallergenic synthetic winterizer can be used.
Clasps are made of high quality plastic, metal. In a good model of a trusted manufacturer, the quality of fittings is given no less importance than everything else, because children will use this product. Designers show maximum imagination when creating sleeping bags for babies, so parents can purchase not only ordinary plain bags, but also thematic ones: with cars, tanks and airplanes, with ships and sea spaces - for boys or with kitten bears, flowers, fairies or cute emoticons - for girls. Designers demonstrate the greatest flight of imagination on models of bags for babies up to a year - not only rectangular classic models are sewn for them, but also bags-figurines of a tiger, shark, bear cub, etc.
Recommendations for use
A sleeping bag, if you think about it, can be used not only as an accessory for a night's sleep. Some warm sleeping bags make a great outfit for a stroller ride. It is convenient and economical, because you do not need to buy a separate overalls for the street.
There is no reason to worry about the state of things, because most sleeping bags, with the exception of knitted woolen models, can be easily washed in an automatic machine using a delicate mode (water temperature no more than 40 degrees, with low-speed spinning). Drying a sleeping bag is also easy. Knitted models are best washed by hand.
What should a child wear for the night?
In the warm season, you should not wear anything under a sleeping bag except a T-shirt or a light undershirt made of natural fabric and a good, reliable diaper that will not let you down. If the apartment is cold, then the baby can be sent to the bag in pajamas or a bodysuit with a sleeve.
There is no universal advice on how to dress your baby, because the climate in every apartment and in every house is different. A lot is solved here by the standard selection method. If you put it on, put it down, and the back of the child's head is sweating, then he is hot. Overheating is dangerous for babies; you should wear something lighter on it. If the legs and arms are cool, this does not mean that the baby is cold, the main thing is that the nose is warm.
How to choose?
When choosing a sleeping bag, you need to focus on the age of the child. Each age has its own size. The smallest size is suitable for a baby from birth, which is designed for children up to 55 centimeters tall. Sleeping bags with a length from the neck to the heels of 65 centimeters are most often suitable for children under 1 year old. For a child 3-5 years old, they sew large sleeping bags up to 105 centimeters long. If you try, you can find more models, but not in a children's store, but in a tourist one.
If you like the model, pay attention to the materials from which it is made. Sleeping bags with synthetics should be avoided to keep the child healthy. The next thing you should definitely look at is the decor and decorations. For a child under one year old, it is undesirable for the bag to have fabric applications, which, when rubbed against children's skin, can cause irritation. It is better to take sleeping bags that are sewn from fabric with a printed pattern or no patterns at all.
A bag for a child after a year may have every right to be decorated with overhead figures, geometric shapes, whatever, as long as the pattern is not located on the sides and back of the product, this can create unpleasant sensations during sleep for especially sensitive babies.
Make sure the quality of the locks and rivets, they should be easy to fasten and not less easy to unfasten, but at the same time be reliable enough so that the bag does not open by itself in the middle of the night with any careless movement of the sleepyhead.
In order not to regret about wasted funds, it is advisable to choose models from time-tested manufacturers and mothers.
These include:
- Huppa Eden (from 2500 rubles);
- HappyBabyDays (from 1400 rubles);
- "Blot" (from 500 rubles for a light summer bag);
- Deglingos (from 1800 rubles);
- Ebulobo (from 1800 rubles);
- Sterntaler (from 4,300 rubles);
- Bebe Lazzi (from 900 rubles).
How to sew?
You can sew a bag with your own hands, here is a pattern for the simplest children's sleeping bag.
Sizes are designed for a child from birth to a year (length 70 centimeters, neck circumference - 24, chest - 46). For sewing, you need at least 2 meters of fabric 90 centimeters wide. Use a thin natural fabric for lining.
It is even easier to knit a sleeping bag and every mother who knows how to hold knitting needles or a hook in her hands, even if she is not a craftswoman and needlewoman, will be able to understand how this is done.
How to sew a sleeping bag (slipik) for a child, see the next video.
Reviews
Despite the obvious advantages of sleeping bags, most parents note that babies are rarely born who are able to sleep all night exclusively on their backs, and on their stomachs, according to reviews, sleeping in bags is not very convenient, many babies wake up and worry. Standard factory sleeping bags, according to mothers, may not suit a particular child if he is very thin or too chubby. In both cases, the neck either hangs or rubs, you have to alter it yourself. Therefore, experienced parents advise taking into account these parameters of the child when choosing. Sleeping bags for children aged 4-5 years, according to reviews, are more difficult to find than similar products for babies. Large sizes are quite rare.
