If you’re an expecting first time parent, get ready to unlock a new skill: baby swaddling! Baby swaddling is the method of wrapping a baby in a large cotton or muslin cloth in a way that recreates the cost, secure feeling your little one experienced in the womb. It takes a few goes to get the hang of it but trust us when we say you’ll become a master at it in no time.

I really liked using a traditional baby swaddle cloth when Mimi was a newborn because I felt it kept her snug and helped her sleep on her back. The trick with baby swaddling is not to wrap too tightly or too loosely, it’s a bit of a Goldilocks scenario where you have to do it ‘just right’. Tip: Red Nose have a helpful tutorial on how to swaddle here.

Why consider a sleeping swaddle bag?

While baby swaddling with a swaddle cloth is great, if your little one is an escape artist like my Mimi, they can on occasion wriggle free. If your little one does this regularly, I would definitely recommend using a baby swaddle bag or pouch. We surveyed thousands of Australian families about the swaddle bags and pouches they loved best here.

The ErgoPouch Cocoon Swaddle Bag rated highly on our BEST OF list and I was super keen to test it out with Mimi. This swaddle bag is designed for babies who prefer an arms down position when they’re swaddled. To be honest there’s no way of knowing if your bub prefers an arms up or arms down swaddle until you try one of these products and see how they react. I would recommend only investing in one style, seeing how bub goes. If they like it, buy a few more. Or if they don’t, experiment with another style. You’ll quickly be able to determine if they’re an arms up or arms down swaddle baby.

The first swaddle bag we tested was an arms up swaddle (you can read my review of this here) and Mimi reacted really well to it. But as I was testing a few varieties for The Baby Edit, I was keen to see how she would go with an arms down swaddle bag. Luckily for us Mimi was happy to sleep in any type of swaddle which enabled us to test many types of swaddles, pouches and swaddle bags.

Key takeaways after testing this product

I’ve said it in a few other reviews but I think one of the best features of a good baby sleep swaddle is that it takes the guesswork out of baby swaddling. As mentioned, I did enjoy baby swaddling but when you compare how easy it is to simply pop bub into a sleep swaddle you can’t look back. It’s really efficient and I really like knowing that my mini escape artist can’t wriggle out of the ErgoPouch Cocoon Swaddle Bag 2.5 TOG like she could with a swaddle cloth.

I also like that this product comes with a two-way, centered zipper, which makes nappy changes really easy in the middle of the night. It also means you don’t need to fuss bub around too much when they have a nappy explosion or if they’re sleeping.

The one difference I did find between the arms up and arms down bags was that when doing nappy changes was that when I had to undo the bag from the top to get to the one-way zipper on her onesie, in the arms up bags, her arms were always held in place and remained inside during the change. With arms down, it’s just a touch harder to keep both arms pinned whilst you zip it up. Not a deal-breaker though.

I found with a lot of the ErgoPouch products that the fabrics are super soft and nice to touch, they also come with so many beautiful, neutral prints which I really like too. This fabric offered a little stretch for Mimi, so she wasn’t completely restricted and still allowed for full chest expansion. On the other hand, the fabric is also firm enough that it mostly prevented triggering her startle reflex. The 2.5 TOG fabric is beautiful and warm and I felt she was definitely warmer in this than some of the other swaddle bags we tested. It was probably my favorite fabric of all the bags we tested.

Another feature of this specific product that I didn’t use but could be handy is that it can transition to an arms out sleeping bag. Baby swaddling is usually recommended for newborns until 3 months or so (or when your bub shows signs of being able to roll). When your bub is getting active and showing signs of starting to roll, you’ll need to transition to arms out. This product allows you to wean bub off arms down swaddling to arms out with press studs that open at the arm holes. Mimi outgrew the bag before she’d started rolling, however, I still think it could be a nifty feature if you wanted to leave bub in the bag (in the pram for example) but wanted to give them some time with their arms free.

We also tested the ErgoPouch Butterfly Cardi. This product is a thin organic cotton/elastane cardi that keeps bubs arms in the arms up position. So if you’re a big fan of the ErgoPouch Cocoon Swaddle Bag 2.5 but want bub in the arms up position you could add this Cardi for $24.95. While we didn’t use it at night (as Mimi was happy enough arms down) I did find it super useful when we were out and about for naps on the go. Whatever she was wearing I’d just pop this cardi over the top to stop that morrow reflex and potentially signal nap time.

I’d definitely recommend this product for winter babies and would also recommend the Butterfly Cardi for anyone whose bub enjoys their arms up and is often napping on the go. I found the ErgoPouch Cocoon Swaddle Bag 2.5 was easy to use, easy to clean and did an effective job at keeping Mimi sleeping on her back throughout the night.

The ErgoPouch Cocoon Swaddle Bag 2.5 TOG was tested by Emily and her daughter Mimi (from 0 to 6 months in various sizes as Mimi grew). To find out which baby sleeping swaddles, bags and pouches ranked highest according to the thousands of Australian families we surveyed click here.

This is general information only. If you need personal, health, medical or technical advice when it comes to your growing family, please seek out a professional.