Review of Baby Merlin's Magic Sleepsuit

As baby's grow out of swaddling at around 4 or 5 months of age, many parents wish they could find some way to help their baby sleep longer while they transition. Merlin's Magic Sleepsuit is one of the products designed to help parents with this transition. When it is used correctly, it helps babies sleep longer and safer because they continue to sleep on their backs. This sleep suit helps parents in a number of ways:

• babies sleep longer,
• babies are less likely to startle themselves awake
• babies remain on their backs.

Once babies learn how to roll over, they should not be swaddled any more. Parent's who have been swaddling their babies as part of a time honored, tried and true sleep routine, find themselves at a loss for how to deal with the loss of swaddling as part of the sleep routine. The Baby Merlin's Magic Sleepsuit helps replace swaddling while keeping babies safe.

The sleep suit is essentially a suit of thick pajamas that has two zippers on the front. It looks like a fleecy snow suit. The fabric has multiple layers and the thickness is designed to muffle those movements that might startle or wake a sleeping baby. The added bonus is that because babies have a harder time bending their arms in the sleep suit, they often cannot roll over while wearing the suit. This ensures that babies continue the AAP recommended back to sleep position.

The suit is machine washable. Because of its thickness, allow extra time to dry. The sleep suit is available in blue, yellow, and pink. There are multiple sizes that match your baby's growing needs.

The Baby Merlin's Magic Sleepsuit has two front facing zippers. To use it, unzip the two zippers and place an undressed or lightly dressed baby in the suit. Once the legs are through the leg holes, the arms of the sleep suit can be stretched to the sides to allow your baby's arm to pass through. At first, the thick fabric seems difficult to use, but you will find that it is quite stretchy.

Once your baby is inside the sleep suit, zip up the front and continue your bedtime routine as you would if your baby were swaddled. This means to continue to feed, rock, or swing your baby in a dim, quiet room, as you did when you used swaddling. Your baby will transition to the sleep suit better, if everything else remains the same.

Baby's are always changing, so what worked before may have to be tweaked, or totally changed as your baby grows. This is not necessarily about using the sleep suit or swaddling or anything other than the fact that babies change quickly, and parents have to keep up.

The sleep suit may be magic (as many parents will tell you), but the magic doesn't do all the work for you. Here are some tips to help get your baby to sleep and keep your baby sleeping longer:

• Dress your baby lightly. While the sleep suit may be thick, it also has large gaps at the neck that can allow cold air in and wake your baby. So, you may consider dressing your child in a light, cotton short sleeve onesie beneath the sleep suit.
• Keep the room cool enough. I know I just said the suit is drafty, but it is also thick, so find a comfortable temperature for your child.
• Make dad a part of bedtime. If your child is wanting to nap and nurse at bedtime, have dad do the final rocking and lay down. In addition to giving mom a much deserved break, it can signal to the baby that dinnertime is over and it is time to sleep.
• Low lights, white noise: Starting as much as an hour before you lay your baby down, keep the environment dark and quiet. Adding some white noise (a fan, humidifier, or white noise machine) can block out some of the sounds that might disturb your child.
• Rocking and swinging can work wonders to take a child from wakefulness to drowsiness and even to sleep.