Whether you are camping or just hanging around the house, sleeping bags can be quite useful for people to utilize. The real issue comes down to the age you need to be before using one. It’s often asked, therefore, if sleeping bags are safe for toddlers.
The short answer to this question is No. They are not exactly safe, as most sleeping bags are made for older kids or adults. The reasoning for this comes down, simply, to valid safety concerns. Although there are some their size and those CAN be used.
You might bring up the understandable point that there are sleeping bags made for kids, so what about one of those? Toddlers are kids, sure, but those are made usually for children over the age of 6 years old. You’ll need special sizes for toddlers.
The reason a question around sleeping bags tends to come up involving toddlers is two-fold.
Either a parent wants their toddler to go camping with them and they’ll sleep in the same sleeping bag as the parent. Or they’ll buy a child’s sleeping bag for them and assume that will do the trick. Neither of these is good for a toddler.
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Why Most Sleeping Bags Are Not Good For Toddlers
One of the biggest reasons sleeping bags are not good for a toddler is pretty much the obvious stuff. Sleeping bags work by using a person’s own body heat. It will then trap said heat, insulating you with it inside the sleeping bag.
A toddler is simply, as a rule, not big enough to generate enough heat to accomplish this. They are, therefore, unable to use the very thing that makes a sleeping bag worth having. If they cannot generate heat, they are better off just using blankets that will actually keep them warm.
On top of this, the regular-sized sleeping bags are going to be too large and could risk them suffocating inside an adult or older kid version. There are also various other issues they could face at their age, which is why you have to get an appropriate size.
Toddler Sleeping Bags
One of the most important things you can do for your Toddler is to get them a sleeping bag that makes sense for them. A lot of people hate to get toddler sleeping bags because they only last for a small period of time. We already covered why you need to avoid the others, however.
Therefore, if you’re going to need them to sleep in their own sleeping bag then you must utilize a normal toddler sleeping bag. Of course, there are even sleeping bags for babies too. Your Toddler might not be big enough to even fit well in the toddler sleeping bags.
As a result, they might need one made for a baby still. Yes, toddlers are, in age, between 12 and 36 months. Or in normal language, 1 to 3 years old. However, some toddlers grow a lot larger than others at an earlier age. Some might even grow slower and might be the size of a normal toddler by the time they are 5 years old.
It is tough to know how everyone will grow, but both baby and toddler sleeping bags have something that a child sleeping bag beyond those ages will not have. That is the all-important secure straps and fastening options.
Head, Shoulders, Knees, And Toes:
Toddlers are known to have little fingers that like to get into everything. They will know how to rip through snaps and zippers, even if they have to force it to happen. Most sleeping bags will have an option to zip or unzip from the inside, as it allows you to seal yourself in.
Toddler versions require you to zip them up, keeping them from being able to undo or mess with anything. They also cannot escape from this, at least not with ease on their part. This can be quite important, as their fingers and toes can get tangled in normal sleeping bags.
The Toddler version prevents either from ever being exposed to the cold. Of course, fingers and toes for toddlers are incredibly important for the obvious reason as well as the fact that they can get too cold. If they do, they’ll send signals to the heart and brain that could cause them to begin freezing, which is not good.
Toddler sleeping bags have some small straps to help keep them secure, but you do not want to use any sort of arm fastener for extra security. This might become far too uncomfortable for them and they’ll be upset by this. It can also prevent them from turning properly, which can risk suffocation too.
Merely make sure to put them in mittens and dress them warmly. This will be better as an option and will keep them safer overall.
What Sleeping Bags To Buy
You might come across a lot of toddler sleeping bags when hunting for one online. This can make it hard to know which one to pick for your toddler. The best tip we can offer is to make sure you pick the one that best fits your need for one.
The ones you need for camping will not be the same used for toddlers at sleepovers, daycare, or anything like that. The ones for the latter will often use different materials, such as different fabrics, that will not be as warm as the ones used for camping purposes.
On top of this, the ones you use for sleepovers or daycare will often be cheaper and made with pretty cheap materials too. They are also not always made to zip them up, where camping versions are. Therefore, buying this version for camping will not work out very well for anyone.
Safety Tip:
Regardless of which version you pick for a Toddler, you need to keep one thing in mind. Toddlers, as well as all children, tend to be very good at spreading germs. As a result, you need to be sure to always wash these sleeping bags after EVERY use.
It does not matter if you went camping for one night and the child never got a speck of dirt, water, or anything else on or inside the sleeping bag. Wash it anyway, as they carry stuff without realizing it.
If you do not, that same sleeping bag could end up spreading germs that could make you as well as others in your home, sick. Especially if you use the same sleeping bag on another camping adventure.
