Win with Merino Kids!

We've talked lots recently about bedding - too much, too little, what type!

One thing I think most agree on is that natural fabrics are typically the best way to go at night.  We first discovered this when my youngest was born at 34 weeks and in a heated cot.

After the first few days he became better at regulating his own body temperature without the heater, when suddenly one evening out of the blue it started becoming unstable again prompting concern - so much so they had to flick the heater back up to earlier levels.  Whilst I sat the next day waiting for the doctor, one of the lovely SCBU nurses came on shift - the old school type.  I explained what had been happening and she immediately checked his bedding; under the top fleece layer was not a wool/cotton blanket (the white layer you can see in the photo), but a second fleece.  She explained that standard bedding was one cotton or wool blanket on top of baby and another wool OR a fleece blanket on top of that (wool were in shorter supply!) When he had been sick the night before, I remembered the nurse swapping the soiled wool blanket for a fleece.  We swapped it for wool and within an hour they could flick the heater on his cot down again.

I then remembered visiting a mum recently who passed me her baby in the most amazingly soft sleeping bag, so much so I commented and discovered it was Merino wool.  Again I thought little more of this until recent discussion regarding the use of synthetic fabrics next to baby at sleeptime.

Fleeces and sleeping bags are now very popular, but if they're synthetic can this impact on how warm/hot baby is at night?

I contacted Amie at Merino Kids - a company specialising in Merino Wool items for babies and children.  We chatted about my SCBU experience and Amie explained why sleeping with synthetics can cause problems - baby gets hot, they sweat, the moisture can't escape and thus they end up cold (or in a cold sweat)

OK so it's actually a bit more complex than this and it turns out there are a whole host of reasons to pick Merino, but this page covers it fully:


I was also quite excited to learn Merino make their own sleeping sack range!  "Standard weight" which covers 18-30 degrees and "Duvet weight" for temperatures 16-20 degrees.  No other sheets or blankets required!

What's more I discovered that agresearch, New Zealand’s largest Crown Research Institute – an independent government-owned research and development organisation has explored this very area!  Nifty!

"Product Comparison of Merino Wool and Polyester Baby Sleeping Sacks: Dr S R Collie, Dr A Tasker and M F Hnat."

You can read the full report here

Some quotes from the report:

"The Merino Kids sleep sack has moisture vapor absorption (MVA) that is approximately 80-times greater than the Halo"

"This intrinsic ‘breathability’ of the merino fiber, and hence the Merino Kids sleep sack, would better allow moist air to move away from the body’s micro-environment, preventing dampness and potentially chilling, while keeping the warm air around the body from escaping via convection."

"In the product comparison reported here, clear differences in thermophysiological comfortrelated performance have been identified between the merino wool Merino Kids and polyester Halo sleep sacks." 

and

"The Merino Kids sleep sack had much higher moisture vapor absorption, approximately equal moisture vapor transmission and much lower air permeability, all of which indicate a much more sophisticated level of ‘breathability’ of the merino system, with it likely to be better at transferring moisture away from the baby while reducing convective heat loss and mitigating the chilling effect of drafts." 

"These test results, coupled with the outcomes of previous research into sleeping comfort and the well-known low flammability and volatile absorption properties of wool indicate that merino is an ideal material from which to construct sleep sack bedding systems for infants."

It seems to me there is little point having natural flat sheets and top sheets, plus perhaps a blanket - if the item right next to baby is causing the problems discussed.

Instead why not use one natural item?

Merino kids have very kindly offered a gorgeous international award winning Go Go Bag™ for one lucky winner!!  

Choose either Newborn to 2 years or 2-4 years - further details below:

To enter share any article from this blog somewhere online and then post a message letting me know where.  Please only share somewhere you are a regular (ie please do not spam somewhere you don't normally visit)  Each share will get you one entry - the more shares the more entries.

Winner will be drawn Wednesday 31st August and announced on this page and on Facebook.  If the winner does not contact me within 16 days from date of draw, I will re-draw.