Baby product review: Muslin wraps vs. Gro swaddle vs. Love to Dream swaddle

 

I wanted to put together some product reviews as being a first time mum, I feel that money was wasted on many items that either was not practical or that baby didn’t like or didn’t last long at all.

My first product review will centre around my experiences on all three of the above items mentioned in my title post and how I found using them now that my baby is 2 months old.

Muslin Wraps 

I found wrapping my baby extremely difficult for a very long time. I used to watch the midwives do it so easily and bub was always wrapped quite firm and snug but when I would try to replicate it, it was so loose and bub would come out of it so easily. It was because I was so scared of wrapping my baby up too firmly. All I saw was this small creature who I was terrified to handle and so wrapping was left to Dad who was much more confident and way better at wrapping then I was.

I got given some muslin wraps at my baby shower, the exact ones pictured below by Bubba Blue Australia:

I found these wraps

1. too small
2. really flimsy material

The problem I had with these wraps is that baby got out of them really easily. My partner still sometimes wraps her in it but he pulls it tightly around her which I can’t bring myself to do so I really don’t recommend getting such a lightweight flimsy material for a muslin wrap.

The other muslin wrap we got as a gift was made of flannelette and is below:

Now these were extremely useful because my bub was born in winter (4 June) and I was always super paranoid that she wasn’t warm enough, but wrapping her in these swaddles was perfect because

1. they are a made of a stiffer material so bub can’t wriggle out of them so easily
2. keeps bub warm
3. it also came in handy as a bed sheet for her bassinet. I would swaddle her in one and then use another one as a sheet. I didn’t have to worry about bub being warm or not.

Verdict

Both of the muslin wraps are made by Bubba Blue Australia. The bamboo ones are a waste of money. We didn’t end up swaddling her in them as she always got out of them so the only thing we used them for is to cover her up when she’s in her pram. The wraps made from flannel are great if you have a bub in winter especially because they can double up as bed sheets for the bassinet or cot.

Gro Swaddle 

I was really excited to use these when I saw how easy they were to use especially because I had such trouble in wrapping my baby up with muslin wraps and they were fantastic! There is a 3 step guide on how to swaddle your baby with it and I loved it. No longer did I feel incompetent about wrapping bub up and the material was strong enough to keep her in place.

The downside, bub grew out of these by 5-6 weeks. My baby is of average length so she’s not giant by any means but I’m not sure how the packaging says it can be used from 0-3 months because the amount of leg room they have to wrap them in is very minimal. As you can see in the image below, the first step is to put the bottom material over the baby’s legs which is great when they are a newborn and tiny, but by 5 weeks my baby’s legs was squashed and by 6 weeks, she would kick the material off which meant only her top half was swaddled but not her legs.

Verdict

I bought 2 of these which retail here in Australia at $24.95 and I regret buying 2 of them because I do think you only get 5-6 weeks usage if you have a normal sized babies. The only babies I could possibly see using this up to 3 months would be premature babies because full term babies would grow out of these very quickly.

I would definitely recommend having one if like me you struggle to use a muslin wrap but if you’re confident in using the wraps, then I don’t think these swaddle are of much use.

Love to Dream Swaddle

I got given a Love to Dream swaddle at my baby shower and have used it a couple of times on my baby but I think every baby is different when it comes to using these swaddles because I had read some reviews online where the baby loved the swaddle bags and settled really well in them. Whilst my baby didn’t hate it, I found that she settled quicker when we wrapped her up using a muslin wrap as opposed to zipping her up and I also found that she managed to wriggle around more in the Love to Dream bags which when they are babies, usually wakes them up (and yes we had the right size bag).

Verdict 

I think its worth giving this a try and unfortunately it is one of those items you need to buy and try before you know if your baby would love it or not. I think if your baby is settling and sleeping just fine in the muslin wraps, then there isn’t any real need to buy a Love to Dream swaddle bag but if you find that they’re not settling that great in the wraps then I think its worth giving it a go and buy one to try.

Also I recommend getting the swaddle bags where baby can have their arms up. When babies are in your womb, a lot of the times they have their hands by their face and this motion settles them to sleep so I found my baby loved having access to her arms but the rest of her body kicked around a lot which I think is why she couldn’t settle properly in them.

Overall Verdict  

Something I didn’t include in the above round up is the cot sheets that was used to wrap our baby up at the hospital. These sheets are made of thick cotton and are quite stiff and now that we have used all of the above forms of wrapping baby up, by far, these hospital issued cot sheets were the most effective.

We were lucky enough to be able to take one home with us as when baby was discharged, she was asleep wrapped in the sheets and the nurse said it was ok to take it home with us.

The reason I think why they are so good is the thickness of the material. Once baby is wrapped in it, she can not wriggle her way out and is able to settle to sleep much faster.

When looking for a muslin wrap I would recommend looking for one made of cotton, thick, and as big as possible (to be able to wrap her well enough).

And if bub is born in winter, then I recommend buying wraps made of flannel.

Muslin wraps are better value for money as you usually get 3 in a pack and the RRP for the Bubba Blue flannel wraps are $29.95 and as mentioned above, you get the bonus of being able to use it as a bassinet/cot sheet for bub as well

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What have been your experiences using any of the above? Or what do you use to settle your baby to sleep?