Love to Dream Swaddle Up Review

Great for some babies and not great for others, the Love to Dream Swaddle Up is not a traditional swaddle and does not secure baby’s arms down or crossed. Instead, this swaddle’s snug fit and flying baby squirrel/arms up positioning helps calm baby’s startle reflex while still allowing babies to use their hands to self-soothe. Parents who have tried more secure swaddles and determined their babies do not like them– but still have babies who startle awake– might want to give the Swaddle Up a try. Babies who prefer a more secure swaddle will likely not sleep well with this swaddle.

Things We Love

Totally Passable Neutral Look: Your baby will look like a flying squirrel in the Swaddle Up– there’s no getting around it– but at least Love to Dream’s colors are pretty neutral. We like the Organic Swaddle Up best.
Easy but Not Foolproof: To swaddle, place baby on top of the Swaddle Up and zip everything in, with baby’s arms in the upper corners. For some babies, it’s as easy as that. For squirmier babes, this “zip everything in” bit can prove challenging, and you may wish you had a third hand for the job. See the how to video below.
Winter, Medium, and Summer Weights: Love to Dream’s organic and original swaddles are 1.0 TOG. Their summer weight swaddles are a super light 0.2 TOG, making them awesome for swaddled naps during hot summers. Their winter weight (Swaddle Up Winter Warm) is 2.5 TOG, but does not come in neutral colors.
Five Sizes, Fitting 4.5 to 32 Pounds: The Swaddle Up is available in five sizes. Extra Small fits premature babies (4.5-7lbs). Small fits babies from birth to three months (6.5-13lbs). Medium fits babies from three to six months (13-18.5lbs). Large and Extra Large fit babies six months and up, (18.5-24lbs for Large and 24-32lbs for Extra Large).
One or Three Swaddle Options: The Swaddle Up Original allows for only one swaddle option– arms in and up. The Swaddle Up 50/50 allows for arms in and up, one arm out, or both arms out.
Easy-ish Diaper Changes: The two-way zipper makes swaddled diaper changes possible.
Great for Parents Who Have Tried Traditional Swaddles and Determined Their Baby Doesn't Like Them: Parents choose this swaddle over others for babies who don’t love being swaddled, but who still need to rein in their startle reflex.

Things We Don't Love As Much

Not a Traditional, Super Snug Swaddle: Great for some babies and not great for others, the Swaddle Up is not a traditional swaddle and does not secure baby’s arms down or crossed. This swaddle’s snug fit helps calm baby’s startle reflex, but not as well as other swaddles. Babies who prefer a more secure swaddle will likely not sleep well with this swaddle.
Not So Easy for Feeding: In order to feed with the arms out, you’ll have to take off the Swaddle Up entirely. (It is possible to nurse while the baby is swaddled in the Swaddle Up, since the baby still has some ability to move his/her arms, but it’s no ideal.)