Ergopouch vs Love to Dream: Your Guide to Swaddling
Let’s start with firstly do I even need a swaddle. So the answer to that is, YES!
Why, because it makes your life that much easier.
No need to worry whether your baby is too hot or too cold. Whether they have kicked the blanket off in the middle of the night. Simply follow the handy table that guides you with what to dress your baby in depending on the nursery temperature and the tog rating of your sleeping bag. The best part is that you simply zip up the bag and viola baby is ready for sleep. No struggling with working out how to tie the baby swaddle.
Benefits of a swaddle
Swaddling has several benefits for newborns, including promoting better sleep, reducing the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), and easing colic and reflux symptoms. It helps to mimic the snug and secure environment of the womb, which can help babies feel calm and relaxed.
Comparing Ergopouch & Love to Dream
Both Ergopouch and Love to Dream's swaddles are designed to provide these benefits.
Ergopouch's swaddles are made from organic and breathable materials that help to regulate temperature. They offer an arms in or out option. Most babies love the feeling of being cocooned but if your baby is just not one of them you have the option to open the press studs and have their arms out of the swaddle using it like a sleeping bag.
Love to Dream's swaddles feature a patented "arms up" design that allows for self-soothing and promotes healthy hip development. The arms up position enables your baby to sleep in a natural position, allowing them to touch their face and move their arms. Whilst the standard fabric for Love to Dream isn’t organic you can always upgrade to their organic range.
Should I buy a size larger for baby to grow in to?
And that’s a definite no! With many other products, I’d say this isn’t the case but with your baby swaddle or sleeping bag it’s really important to make sure the size is correct. If it’s too big for your baby the neckline could be too loose, which can potentially be dangerous.
Premature
If you have a preemie baby, the Ergopouch sizing does start a little smaller at 2kg vs Love to Dream at 2.2kg.
What is a TOG?
You’ll see TOG on all these products. And what does that even mean? TOG stands for Thermal Overall Grade and measures the amount of warmth a fabric can provide particularly in sleepwear and bedding. Plainly, the lower the TOG rating = the lighter the fabric. The higher the TOG number = the warmer the fabric. Both Ergopouch and Love to Dream offer a range of tog ratings for their swaddles to cater to different temperature preferences and climates. Actually they both offer swaddles that suit temperatures from 14 degrees to 27 degrees.
Zip
They both offer a 2 way zip, meaning you can open the zip from the top and the bottom. To change your baby’s nappy, you can unzip the swaddle from the bottom which means you can change their nappy without having to remove the entire swaddle.
Summary
My advice..
get one of each brand.
You’re going to need a few swaddles. And these are the very best two. This way you can try bubs in both and see what they like (as in which they sleep longer in) and that’s going to be the one you like more too!