We have seven parents on staff at the Strategist, and our children are between 11 months and 8 and a half years old. So when it comes to rating products for kids and babies, we have a strong tester pool. We’ll be chitchatting about the things we’ve bought for our kids over the years, the things we’ve returned, and the things we’ve kept to pass down to friends and family. First up, the best sleep sacks and swaddles.
The taxonomy of sleep sacks and swaddles is tricky. A swaddle can be a piece of fabric you wrap around an infant or a custom sleeping wrap with velcro or zippers; you can even have a swaddling sleep sack. For ease of distinction, we’re saying swaddles are arms-in (i.e., for use up until the startle reflex abates) and sleep sacks are arms-out (i.e., a wearable blanket for babies ages 4 months and up).
Swaddle brands we’ve tried: Love to Dream Swaddle Up, Halo, Happiest Baby Sleepea, SwaddleMe Easy Change, Miracle Blanket, Zipadee-Zip, Milkbarn
Sleep-sack brands we’ve tried: Mori, H&M, Little Green Radicals, Little Green Sheep, Snüz, Woolino, Baby DeeDee Sleep Nest Sleeping Sack, Gro Bag, Halo SleepSack Swaddle, WildBird, Günamüna, Snoo, Nested Bean, Baby Merlin, Swaddle Up, Ollie, Kyte, Quince, Copper Pearl
Our favorite swaddle: Halo
Owned by three editors. If you’re new to swaddling, it’s hard to go wrong with the Halo. It’s a wearable blanket that zips up and then you use Velcro “wings” to swaddle the baby. The nice thing about the Halo is that it allows for three different ways of swaddling: both arms pinned at baby’s side, one arm out, or both arms out. This makes it easy to transition from a swaddle to a sleep sack when your kids are a little older.
I purchased many a sleep sack at 3 a.m., and time and time again, nothing was able to beat the Halo. I found it was a mix of adjustable and super-easy to get on (many of the others you can’t adjust or tighten, and I found the Ollie just too hard to use), and for the most part, it was un-get-out-able. You can truly wrap them up like a tight burrito with the Halo and they’re fine! When my kids were transitioning out of their sleep sacks, we’d easily take one arm out and then could adjust so that both arms were out. I had two Halos I kept around for both kids, and they had each seen likely hundreds of washes and were good as new. —Alexis Swerdloff, deputy editor, New York Magazine
The Halo has a zipper plus winglike Velcro flaps that made swaddling quite easy. Then once they were ready to have their arms free, we still secured the flaps around them but under the armpits instead of up around the shoulders. —Jen Trolio, senior editor
Runners-up
Love to Dream
Owned by two editors. If your baby likes to sleep with their arms by their head or if they self-soothe by sucking their fingers, consider the Love to Dream Swaddle Up. Writer Lauren Ro and senior editor Winnie Yang both liked how easy it is to put on. (Ashley Graham’s doula recommended this swaddle to her, too).
The Love to Dream was my absolute favorite. It’s super-easy to put on — just zip up and go. Because it accommodates the baby’s natural arm position, you don’t even have to move their arms. It’s on the thin side, so I always felt the baby might be cold in it, but I guess you could dress them in thicker clothes. —Lauren Ro, writer
The Love to Dream Swaddle Up was good once Apollo wanted his hands accessible for sucking/self-soothing. —Winnie Yang, senior editor
Happiest Baby Sleepea
Owned by two editors. The Sleepea comes from the makers of the Snoo (you can’t use this swaddle in the Snoo, however, only the Snoo Sack Swaddle). Developed by Dr. Harvey Karp, a.k.a. the Swaddle King (his DVD, The Happiest Baby on the Block, taught many parents how to swaddle), this model is pretty simple. It’s a stretchy “smart band” inside a zippered sleep sack. Yang says it helped her wriggly son stay swaddled where others had failed.
It was the only one he couldn’t consistently break out of, and (probably as a consequence of staying swaddled) it seemed to help Apollo go to sleep and stay asleep. —W.Y.
Aden + Anais
Owned by five editors. Aden + Anais are known for gigantic muslins in very pretty colorways, which you can use as DIY swaddles. They’re a popular baby-shower gift and are useful even after your baby graduates out of swaddling.
To me, a swaddle is a swaddle is a swaddle, but the aden + anais ones are very pretty. —A.S.
The Aden + Anais muslin swaddle blankets worked really well on Andie, and we had the technique down to make them snug and secure. They have so many other uses, too (stroller and car-seat shade, makeshift cape, doll blanket). —W.Y.
Our favorite sleep sack: Woolino
Owned by five editors. These merino-wool sleep sacks are expensive, but you’ll need to buy them only once — they’re one-size-fits-all. Senior editor Simone Kitchens says her daughter has been in the same sacks for “a little over a year.” And even though they’re made from merino wool, you can still machine wash and even tumble dry them on a no-heat setting.
I am ruined for all other sleep sacks. That’s why I got three Woolinos —W.Y.
I prefer the Woolino on warmer nights, even though they are the same TOG (1.0) as the Kyte sacks I own. The Woolino seems more breathable but can also keep her warm on cooler nights. I remember feeling doubtful that the Woolino would work from 2 months to 2 years, but here we are. —Simone Kitchens, senior editor
It was recommended to me by six of the eight moms in my postpartum support group. It’s made of merino wool and organic cotton, which helps keep Arlo warm but not too hot in our apartment, where I can’t control the heat. —Liza Corsillo, senior writer
It has a genius opening on the front and the back where you can pass through the car-seat buckle or the stroller buckle from back to front, so the baby can be safely and tightly fastened into the five-point harness while still in their little wearable blanket–foot muff thing. —J.T.
Runners-up
Mori
Owned by two editors. Mori’s sleep suits are incredibly soft, and their sleep sacks are no different. Like the Woolino sleep sacks, they’re one-size-fits-all. And while we’ve tried a range of Mori sleep sacks (including the Clever Sleeping Bag and the Front-Opening Sleeping Bag), the Multi TOG version stands out. Corsillo finds the padding really makes her son feel safe and cradled — swaddled, even.
The Mori Multi TOG sleep sack is pretty cool and, like all of their products, very soft. It’s also meant to be usable year-round and can go from 0.5 TOG to 2.5 TOG by adding two padded liners to the sack. Arlo has slept in it both with and without the padding and has been very cozy and comfortable. And while they don’t really add any weight, I do think the snuggliness of the liners made him feel safe, cradled, and swaddled. —L.C.
They are expensive (even with a discount code, you’re looking at about $80), but they are true to size. Aoife is tall, so she aged out of the 0–6 months and 6–12 months versions of other brands early. With Mori, the 0–18 months sacks fit her the whole way through. You can also adjust the length with poppers so their little legs don’t flap about (and the “tail” of the sleep sack doesn’t get caught on the crib when you’re transferring them). —Ailbhe Malone, senior editor
Kyte
Owned by one editor. Much like Mori’s, Kyte’s bamboo sleep sacks are incredibly soft. There’s a slew of pretty patterns to choose from, and the sleeping sacks are generously sized, according to Kitchens.
We alternate between the Woolino and Kyte sacks every night, whatever is fresh from the laundry. Ramona is tall and moved up to the Kyte medium at around 6 months, but it has felt fine and roomy for the past year. —S.K.
H&M
Owned by one editor. Several Strategist editors vouch for H&M’s baby clothes, and their sleeping bags are also extremely well priced, according to Malone.
These are inexpensive and come in very sweet patterns. The zipper is quite annoying (you zip toward the underarm, rather than away from it), but for the price, I can live with it. —A.M.
WildBird
Owned by one editor. A particularly stylish option is WildBird’s linen-mix sleep sack. Although it’s billed as a year-round weight, Ro especially liked it for summer use.
It’s made of linen and is slightly padded. It just looked and felt really fancy and well made. It was a really great summer sleep sack. —L.R.
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