All three of my babies loved being swaddled. With my first son, I became a master of the traditional wrapping technique with a single square of muslin, but when my twins were born, I wanted a shortcut. I’ve tried many different options, and found the the best overall for its simple reliability. This design is available in a range of fabrics, so you can pick the one that best matches your climate. If you’re not sure, I recommend cotton for its versatility and because that’s the fabric most pediatricians recommend for babies.
Before we take a closer look at the top picks, here’s a quick primer on swaddles. For the purposes of this article, a swaddle is something that holds your baby’s arms in and a sleep sack or wearable blanket is a baby garment that allows baby’s arms to be out. Swaddles have been used since ancient times, but shows that swaddling can improve infant sleep, in part because it can suppress the startle reflex (also called the Moro reflex).
But swaddling also comes with some risks, says Dr. Kirsten Bechtel, a professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at the Yale School of Medicine. “You don’t want the swaddle so loose that it can come up above the baby’s head,” which is a suffocation risk she says. “If you can just swaddle the upper portion of the baby, like the arms, and leave the legs flexed and free, that would be best just to prevent any problems with mobility of the hips.” Swaddled babies should always be placed on their backs. When your baby starts rolling, it’s time to stop swaddling and consider switching to a sleep sack.
A Straightforward Design
Of all the swaddles I tested, became my dependable go-to. They have a central sleep sack with a zipper, flanked by hook-and-loop fabric (that’s the generic term for Velcro-like materials) wings. You zip baby’s body in, tuck their arms next to their sides, and pull the fabric around the arms, shoulders and chest for a nice, secure bundle. The wing fasteners are wide and a bit flexible, so you can get a good fit starting when they’re tiny babies (one of my boys was born below 6 pounds) and onward as they grow.
However, if I didn’t wrap the wings tightly enough, my babies could work their little arms up and out the top of the wings, which did cause them to wake up sometimes. If it’s not secured tightly, there’s also some risk that loose fabric could get too close to your baby’s face. “Babies do come out of it more easily,” agrees Erin Carroll-Manning, a postpartum doula and newborn care specialist based in New England who has worked with a wide range of swaddles.
Transitions With Your Baby’s Development
What she does like about the Halo swaddle is that it can be used arms-out when it’s time for your baby to start transitioning out of a swaddle. “That’s really good because then I can just keep the wrap around their stomach and then their arms are out when I’m transitioning them out of the swaddle part to the sleep sack,” Carroll-Manning says.
The swaddles do have a two-way zipper that some parents say helps with nightly diaper changes. In theory, you could access the diaper without removing their arms from the swaddle. But I’ll level with you: No child of mine has ever slept through a diaper change. For nighttime wakeups, I found it most efficient to remove the swaddle, change the baby, feed them, re-swaddle and rock them back to sleep. I was nonetheless grateful for this swaddle’s ease of use, and my husband and I both were able to secure it in near-total darkness.
Fabric Options For Every Climate
I stocked up on these swaddles in a range of different fabric options for New York’s temperamental spring weather—including the fleece, cotton and fabrics. Between blowouts and spit-up, they went through many, many rounds of laundry, and I found Halo SleepSack Swaddles pretty durable across the board. The only iteration that held up a little less well was the cotton muslin, which is more prone to getting snagged threads.
From The Creator Of The Snoo
Designed with even the smallest babies in mind, I never worried that my babies might slip down into the Sleepea. Created by pediatrician Dr. Harvey Karp, author of , it has an inner section that hugs the baby’s arms and an outer layer that’s secured by a zipper. The inner section uses hook-and-loop fabric that you wrap around the baby’s arms, plus an extra panel that’s secured between the baby’s legs, keeping the whole swaddle from riding up around your little one’s face. My baby sometimes managed to work his arms out of that inner band, but never escaped the zippered part.
This swaddle is the same one that you’ll find in the Snoo, but without the special panels that connect it to the smart bassinet’s interior. For those already using the Snoo, this might make a good travel swaddle to help maintain consistent sleep cues when your little one sleeps elsewhere.
Lots Of Options
The Sleepea has a lot of size options, and the smallest size works for babies who weigh just 4 pounds. But like some of the other swaddles on the market, there’s a chance you’ll need two different swaddle sizes before your little one starts rolling. Most of the Sleepea fabric options feature ventilation panels to lower the risk of overheating, but if it’s cold where you live, there’s also a with a 2.0 TOG.
Both versions have snaps along the shoulders, converting the swaddle into an arms-out sleep sack and easing the transition to more freedom. When the time comes for arms out, you still wrap the baby’s torso with the inner fabric panels. I like that this continues to keep the fabric down and away from my baby’s face—so I didn’t mind that it’s an extra step compared to other sleep sacks.
Born In The U.S.A.
Swaddelini might sound like an Italian pasta shape, but it’s made in America from start to finish. The organic cotton is grown in Texas, milled into yarn in North Carolina and 3D-knit into swaddles in Michigan. This knitting approach also has the advantage of minimizing fabric waste, because the pattern isn’t cut from a larger swath of fabric. There’s also a version made from recycled nylon, which is also produced in the United States.
A Unique Design
My babies slept well in this swaddle, and it gives them a little more freedom to wiggle while still being cozy and keeping their arms down. Thanks to its unique design, they never managed to break out of it and the fabric never got up near their faces. But there is a little bit more of a learning curve to figure it out, and it tended to take just a little more time to get the baby swaddled. You shimmy the middle tube over your baby’s feet and up their torso, then reach your hand through each an arm sleeve, get a good hold on their hand and then slide your baby’s arm down inside and repeat with the other arm (I recommend ).
In theory, you could use the main opening at the bottom for diaper changes without taking the Swaddelini off your babe, but again, this approach isn’t really my style. Two sizes of the swaddle are available, small (6 to 12 pounds) and large (12 to 18 pounds). If your baby is on the bigger side, that means you may need to buy two sizes before they start really rolling. There is also an , which I found to be a very nice transition out of swaddling because of its gentle hug-like fit on the baby’s torso and upper arms.
Hands To Heart
For babies who seem to hate having their arms pinned down at their sides, this swaddle holds their little arms securely at their chest. This sleep position is made possible by sleeves that you tuck your baby’s arms into, then allow your baby to give themself a hug that’s held in place with Velcro. As with any sleeve, there may be some struggles getting your wiggly baby’s arms in (all my boys went through a phase of loudly objecting to any and all sleeves). But once it was on, my son slept soundly in this swaddle and was unable to break free and wake himself.
It has a long zipper along the bottom for nighttime diaper changes, and although that’s not my cup of tea, other moms say they really appreciated this aspect of the .
Slightly More Limited Use
Although there are two sizes, the smallest baby this swaddle is recommended for is 7 pounds, so babies born as small as my twins (5 and 6 pounds) aren’t able to use it from birth. On the other end of their swaddling time period, this design doesn’t have an arm-out configuration, so you’ll need something different for once your little one is rolling.
Classic And Durable
I used swaddle blankets to swaddle my firstborn from the time he was born until he started rolling at about 4 months. We also reused the same set when our twins first came home from the hospital and were initially too small for the other swaddle options we had on hand at the time.
I’ve washed them dozens of times, and they’ve held up beautifully, maintaining their strength and softness. They’re also highly versatile, and I’ve used them as nursing covers, sun shades and a light blanket in the stroller.
Practice Required
Learning how to wrap a traditional swaddle takes a lot of practice, and getting it wrong does run the risk of not only more wakeups but also loose fabric around your baby’s face.
If you are a first-time parent and want to go the traditional swaddle route, be sure to get some some hands-on guidance from an experienced infant caregiver—like the nurses in the maternity ward or a trusted postpartum doula. I learned from the nurses at the hospital where I gave birth, and asked for help until I got the hang of it and my baby couldn’t wiggle out. As my son grew and got stronger, he did still break free sometimes.
The Other Baby Swaddles I Tested
Honorable Mentions
The following swaddles are all very nice, and worth a look if other options haven’t met your baby’s needs.
Like A Traditional Swaddle With A Cheat Code:
The Ollie Swaddle gets somewhat mixed reactions from other parents, but there’s a lot I like about it. There’s just one size that can adapt as your baby grows, and although there is a bit of a learning curve to it initially, it’s pretty fast to get baby all wrapped up once you’ve had some practice. When your baby is ready to transition out of the swaddle, wrap them with their arms out for a snug wearable blanket.
For Babies Who Sleep With Their Arms Up:
For the parents of babies who hate having their arms pinned down, the Swaddle Up from Love To Dream is a winner. I like the Transition Bag version that lets you convert it to an arms-out sleep sack, but there’s a non-convertible version, too. Although my babies didn’t prefer this sleep style, I still recommend this swaddle option to parents who have observed their babies sleeping hands-to-head or have struggled with other swaddle options.
Another Beautiful Swaddle Blanket:
They’re considerably more pricey than my top pick for the best traditional swaddle blanket, but Loulou Lollipop’s muslin swaddle blankets are worth a look for their gorgeous prints and playful designs. They work just as well as the swaddle blankets from Aden + Anais.
Everything Else
(3.5/5 stars): This swaddle has two parts that are not connected, and right from the start, I found it hard to keep track of both parts. The instructions say that either component can be used on its own, but my babies immediately broke out of these configurations.
(3.5/5 stars): I’m a huge fan of this brand’s sleep sacks, but unfortunately this swaddle iteration didn’t work for me. The band that wraps around the baby’s arms detaches (again making it hard for me to keep track of), and I found it confusing to put back on.
How I Tested Swaddles
I tested swaddles by wrapping my twin baby boys every night from the time they came home from the hospital until they started rolling consistently. I considered the following aspects of each swaddle:
- Ease of use: Was it easy to get the baby safely bundled up, with no loose fabric? Are there multiple parts?
- Secure fit: Was the baby able to break out of the swaddle?
- Quality: Did the product hold up after repeat washing? Did it show signs of wear with regular use?
- Features: Does the swaddle have any additional features, like the option to be used as a sleep sack or zippers to make diaper changes easier?
I also took into account my experience with swaddling my older son, who was born before I worked at Forbes, and collected insights from other moms who have used swaddles.
What To Consider When Picking A Baby Swaddle
Style
Swaddle styles can range from a simple square of cloth to a complex contraption that expands or transforms with zippers, snaps or extra pieces. Steer clear of anything weighted or tight on the legs.
“Weighted swaddles are not safe,” says Dr. Despina S. Tsevdos, a New York City pediatrician at Mount Sinai Doctors Faculty Practice, Mount Sinai Health System. “A swaddle should be snug around the chest and give some wiggle room around the hips and knees. Any swaddle that restricts hip and knee movement is too tight and may increase the risk for developmental dysplasia of the hip.”
I personally don’t love swaddles that use two parts, and prefer hook-and-loop fabric closures (like Velcro). Carroll-Manning says it’s also nice when a swaddle has an arms-out option, for use when your baby starts to roll. It helps parents “minimize how much you actually buy, and what you do buy actually is useful for different stages as the baby grows.”
Fabric And TOG
“You want a breathable fabric, so cotton is best,” says Bechtel. I’ve also found that cotton holds up well in the laundry (the swaddle needs to get washed a lot), whereas rayon and rayon from bamboo tend to pill more with time.
When shopping for swaddles and wearable sleep sacks, you’ll encounter the term TOG, which is a measure of fabric weight. A TOG of 1 or 1.5 is great for most room-temperature situations (68 to 73 degrees), but if your home tends to be a little warmer, you’ll want a lower TOG or a higher TOG for colder rooms. It’s particularly important that your baby doesn’t overheat, which is a .
Size
Always follow the manufacturer’s recommendations for weight and length when selecting a swaddle. You may need to size up as your baby grows, but it’s equally important that the swaddle is not too large, because loose fabric is a suffocation risk.
Why Trust Forbes Vetted
The baby and kids gear team at Forbes Vetted has tested hundreds of products to help parents and caregivers find the right items for their families.
- To help the parents of newborns get their best sleep, we’ve written guides to the best bassinets, the best crib mattresses and the best travel cribs—all backed by rigorous firsthand testing.
- Author Margaret Badore is the senior baby and kids editor. She has 18 years of experience covering science and health topics and is a mom of three kids under the age of 5 years old. She also recently tested the best baby carriers.
- This story was edited by Rose Gordon Sala, the deputy editor overseeing the tech and kids sections at Forbes Vetted. She’s an experienced journalist who has covered parenting for more than a decade and is also a mom of three.
Our Experts
- is a pediatrician at Mount Sinai Doctors Faculty Practice, Mount Sinai Health System; and assistant professor of pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
- , M.D., is a professor of pediatrics (emergency medicine) and of emergency medicine at the Yale School of Medicine.
- is a postpartum doula, master newborn care specialist and founder of Gentle Giraffes Newborn Care & Family Services.
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