Product Spotlight: Blankets

inthewoods23

Share your thoughts on all things blanket!

tuxielove93

Burp cloth like blankets are clutch to have around to mop up whatever happens to spill. But actual blankets are not super useful. I do like to use blankets to put baby on the ground when he isn't in his play gym. But I just use our regular blankets for the most part. 

It's against current recommendations to use actual blankets in bed or anything until they are much older. I live in a very warm climate and my kids hated being swaddled so I really don't use baby blankets. But the sleep sack blankets can be good for colder climates 

oli9

My kids all loved and still currently love on their Aden and Anais Muslin swaddle blankets. I never really used them as swaddles but for comfort blankets, stroller covers or car seat covers. My 4 year old daughter still has 3 of her original Aden and Anais swaddles that she drags around everywhere and uses to sleep. My now 10 year old daughter used her Aden and Anais swaddles until she was over 5 years old and her last one I cut up and framed a square of. 😭 This time around we are purchasing 10 muslin swaddles for random use / comfort and just a couple of heavier cotton blankets for outings but with a July baby in Florida I’m thinking that there won’t be much need for blankets. I did buy 2 packs (20 total) Gerber burp cloths / reusable diapers to have around because babies are messy! 

runnergirl2018

we used some muslin blankets for stroller blankets or to put down on things but they did not work well for swaddles for us

i LOVE Lou Lou and Company swaddles - great if you are doing swaddling but also like them as a blanket to put on the ground and my toddler uses it as his main blanket because they are so big. I also used ours as a nursing cover. Their swaddles have some good stretch, which is great because newborns are like ninjas and mine seemingly can always get out of any non-stretchy swaddle 

For wearable blankets during baby stages - we like Halo sleep sacks and swaddle sacks

Open to learning more about what to do with cold weather as i didn't have to deal with that in FL but will have to in IL this winter

everyone recommended that aden and anias swaddle blankets for my first so i have a bunch but we honestly didn't use that many of them and they weren't love for us 

you DEFINITELY do not need to get a baby quilt for their crib or whatever comes in crib bedding sets. i do not understand those

oli9

@runnergirl2018 thank you for the swaddle suggestion! I’m already on their website adding stuff to the cart. Lol

inthewoods23

This is a good reminder for me to register for swaddle blankets even if they don't actually get used for swaddling.

Would you guys say you tend to have blankets that you leave in specific places for specific purposes? Like one blanket is strictly for your car in the winter to keep baby warm, that sort of thing. I already know I'm going to get more baby blankets than I know what to do with and one is going to be a quilt from my MIL since she's an avid quilter.

And this isn't really about blankets specifically but kind of related - has anyone used those winter car seat covers that are like winter coat material with sherpa or fleece? Not that I expect to be outside with my kid in his car seat in the middle of winter for extended periods of time, but we definitely get very cold (single digits or negatives) here in WI.

tuxielove93

I tend to have little stashes around, even now. I keep blankets in the car just because my kids love blankets. That quilt your mom is making could be a perfect floor blanket. I have a quilt a friend made from flannel for the babies that was perfect for laying them on the floor. 

runnergirl2018

@oli9 if you haven’t bought yet - just a heads up that they’ll be doing a big sale this month! Sign up for their newsletter or follow them on social to find out when and they typically do markdowns of different items on Mondays, although i haven’t often seen swaddles in them.  I really love their stuff! I don’t think i mentioned this but i love the LouLou swaddles because they have some stretch to them which helps a ton if used for actual swaddling, but so many uses because they are so much bigger than other swaddles I’ve found

@inthewoods23 yeah i tend to have blankets in different places for different things. My3 yr old had 3 family members make him blankets that were all too warm for FL so he just now uses them here.  He stacks like 5 blankets on himself in his bed now instead of using his comforter so??  I liked having one in the car, one for the stroller, one in play area, and ones in the nursery or sleeping spaces.  Regarding the car seat winter cover, this is my first time living somewhere with real winter while having a baby but my SIL and good friend both used them for their baby’s so i have their handmedowns 

sunshineandlemons

Wearable blankets are great until the baby is old enough to use a regular blanket (I like the Halo ones but also have a muslin one from Amazon). We like the muslin swaddle blankets in warmer weather and the thicker 4 layer Muslin blankets in cooler weather. 

@[email protected] both my girls were born in the fall and still pretty little in the winter. We had the car seat cover that went over the top of the car seat (not under the baby). Since this baby will be bigger by the time we need that, I’m not sure if we will use it this time or just a blanket. I can’t find the exact one we have but it was like this one: Skip Hop Winter Car Seat Cover, Stroll & Go, Grey Feather https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B071ZTFSZV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_PT6CTWFY8JDKBVR6JA1C 

feather_heather

@inthewoods23 - We used this 7am enfant winter carseat cover and loved it. It was super warm! Just make sure you get one that goes over the top of the car seat. Anything that has to go under the baby, and you have to thread the straps thru is not safe to use. 

We loved the swaddleme swaddles. DD loved being swaddled nice and tight and these were so easy to use and she couldn't break out of them. 

When we transitioned her out of the snoo, we used the dreamland baby weighted sleep sacks. I know some people say they are not safe, but my pediatrician okayed it for her age, size and weight. Made the transition to the crib really easy, as she was still getting that "hugged" feeling she liked with swaddles, while being safe for rolling in her crib.

We use the kyte baby sleep sacks now and we like those as well. They seem to be really expensive for what it is, so when she outgrows this one I'll probably try to find a cheaper alternative. 

We always keep a baby blanket in the car for if it's cold, or we want her to take a carseat nap while we drive somewhere. I used a muslin one in the stroller in the summer, and a thicker one in the fall. I also used them to put on the floor for tummy time when travelling and when she was sitting up to play later on. So always good to have a few! 

runnergirl2018

I forgot about the Love To Dream swaddles/sacks - we really liked those as well!

i hated anything with velcro personally, especially the noise in the middle of the night.  must have a zipper that goes both directions and be easy to stay on baby for middle of the night changes and feedings!

zwink1

I loved the muslin swaddles with S and used them all the time for all kinds of things in addition to sleep (S was a swaddle baby).  A friend gifted us a really nice quilt that I used to lay on the floor for him when he was in the little little stage.  

As for sleep sacks, we tried a few different kinds. The halo sacks were nice when it was colder out, but agree with the velcro noise complainta.

Really, the game changer for us was the Woolino.  I'm not sure if it was just a coincidence, but he slept great in that thing.  It's pricey, but if you get it on sale it's a bit more palatable, and it can be used for roughly 2 yrs, so you get your use out of it.  Seriously debating getting a 2nd so we have 2 for this baby (they're best air-dried, so washing time can be tricky to plan out).  

inthewoods23

@zwink1 oh no don't show the Woolino to my DH (which I just did like an idiot haha). He's always hated the feeling of cotton t-shirts but ever since buying wool underlayers for our Iceland honeymoon it's all he wears now for undershirts. Wool is the whole damn reason he wants the Uppababy Mesa car seat too because everything else feels scratchy. Why do we have to like everything so expensive lol. They have BOGO 20% off right now