Zipadee Zip wearable baby blanket review

Are you curious about the Zipadee Zip sleep sack? I was too. After seeing ads for them everywhere, I got a few for my baby, and I’d love to share how awesome the Zipadee Zip is with you.

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Sleep sacks are a really great part of how to dress your baby for sleep. They help your little one stay cozy but also protect from a normal blanket getting wrapped up over your child’s face (preventing SIDS or suffocation).

Read my Zipadee Zip review here to see if you think this wearable blanket will work for your baby.

What makes a Zipadee Zip different?

The Zipadee Zip (or Zipadeezip, if you’re like me and accidentally spell it both ways) sleep sack basically turns your baby into an adorable starfish.

It’s not a swaddle-style blanket. Your baby’s arms are not tight against his body, and the legs are free. At the same time, it’s a great swaddle transition because the arms are still wrapped up (just not bound against them).

This is great for several reasons. First of all, swaddling with a regular blanket that keeps your baby’s legs bound can lead to hip dysplasia, so the ability for your baby’s legs to move freely is great.

Secondly, if your baby likes to self soothe by putting his hands in his mouth, the Zipadee Zip allows him to. Sure, the corners where his hands go get a little soggy, but you can just wash the Zipadee Zip and it’s fine.

Zipadee Zip versus Halo Sleep Sack

I’ll be honest, I had four babies before I discovered the Zipadee Zip. Before that, I was a loyal ” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener nofollow”>Halo Sleep Sack mom.

For younger babies, the Sleep Sack allows complete swaddling of the arms. You use the attached wrap and secure it with Velcro.

You can choose not to swaddle too. In that case, you just wrap the Velcro without the arms underneath.

But here’s the problem: The baby in that picture is wearing long sleeves. If he wasn’t, his little arms would be bare. Since you can’t put a loose blanket over a baby, his arms would get pretty cold!

And Sleep sacks for older babies don’t even come with a swaddle option, so you either have to put your baby in a long sleeve shirt or let them get too cold. But if it’s warm enough that you only want the blanket but not a onsie underneath… you see the conundrum.

This has been the issue with the Halo Sleep Sack that has bugged me for years, through four babies. So when it comes to Zipadee Zips vs sleep sacks, the Zipadee Zip comes out on top.

And when your baby gets old enough to break out of swaddles, it’s time to try something different. That’s what drove me to finally try the Zipadee Zip.

Zipadee Zip for swaddle transition

If you’ve ever swaddled a baby, you know the painful transition that comes when she finally outgrows the swaddle. There’s a least a week or two of really bad sleep when your baby is learning to sleep with her arms free.

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But the Zipadee Zip changes all that.

The Zipadee-Zip has a very different shape from a typical swaddle blanket. Each arm goes into one of the little points that you see. So arm movement is slightly restricted (because they’re trapped inside the blanket) like a swaddle, but they’re no longer completely unable to move.

When my fourth baby was outgrowing his Sleep Sack, I looked for solutions and finally bought two Zipadee-Zips – one that was a normal weight cotton, and another that was a lighter weight since summer was coming (they also have a heavier fleece option for winter).

To help the transition, I also invested in a snuggle strap. It’s basically just a strip of fabric with Velcro at the ends, but it wraps around the Zipadee Zip (as shown above).

The snuggle strap helps with moving away from swaddling in two ways. First, if your baby is used to having a blanket tight against her, the strap makes the blanket feel a little tighter across her waist. Secondly, arm movement is restricted a little more with the swaddle strap, so it helps baby feel secure.

I only needed the Zipadee Zip snuggle strap for a week or two after switching to the Zipadee Zip, but I was glad I got it. If you have your baby in a Zipadee Zip from the start (just make sure you get an X-Small), you probably won’t even need one.

Is the Zipadee Zip safe?

With any blanket or product designed for infant sleep, it’s important to know that it’s safe.

And yes, the Zipadee Zip is safe. I’ve never had any problems with my little guy having his blanket up over his face.

I’ve seen a few reviews where parents were concerned about the Zipadee Zip coming up over their baby’s mouth (but like I said, I’ve never had that problem). Sleeping Baby, the company who makes them, suggests simply zipping the blanket around your baby backwards (so that the zipper is in the back). I’ve done that a few times for my baby just for something different, and it worked really well.

Zipadee Zip for baby rolling to tummy to sleep

If your baby is starting to roll over, he may start to prefer to sleep on his tummy instead of his back.

But you may be wondering: Is it safe for your baby to roll over in a Zipadee Zip?

The answer is yes. While you always put baby in his crib on his back, it’s okay for him to sleep on his side or tummy if he rolls that way himself.

Your baby can’t roll over in a swaddle (and if he somehow does, it really isn’t safe). They don’t have access to their arms in a swaddle.

A Zipadee Zip is safe for rolling over because of its starfish design. Your baby can still move their arms, push up, or do whatever they need to do while still being snug and cozy.

When to switch to the Flying Squirrel from the Zipadee Zip

If you check out Sleeping Baby, you may notice that they have the Zipadee Zips and the Flying Squirrels and wonder what the difference is between them.

The Flying Squirrel sacks are very similar to the Zipadee Zip, but you can roll up the sleeves at the hands and feet (You can also roll them over your baby’s hands and feet to keep them warm, just whatever your little one prefers). This makes it great for toddlers who wake up and want to start wandering around in the morning – they won’t get tripped up in their sleep sack.

I also found that, as my son got older, he would start squirming his arms out from the Zipadee Zip “sleeves” (which are very wide) and pulling them through the neck hole, sometimes squeezing completely out of his blanket. He did not sleep well after that.

But with the Flying Squirrel, that can’t happen (or at least it’s much less likely) because the sleeves are more fitted at the wrists.

So my recommendation is to switch to the Flying Squirrel once your child is either walking or wriggling their arms up out of the Zipadee Zip. Fortunately, they’re made in the same adorable patterns.

Zipadee Zip for co sleeping

If you choose to bed share with your baby (or even if it’s not so much a “choice” so much as a “passed out in bed with the baby beside me”), it’s important to know that you shouldn’t have your baby swaddled when she sleeps beside you.

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Basically, you want to make sure that your baby’s arms are available to touch you and help you stay aware of her in your sleep.

That’s another great thing about the Zipadee Zip‘s design. If you sleep with your baby, the free-arm design allows baby to touch you while sleeping. But at the same time, her arms can still stay nice and cozy warm in her blanket.

Zipadee Zip cons

I only have a one minor quibble with the Zipadee Zip. I wish the zipper started at the top instead of the bottom so middle of the night diaper changes were easier. But honestly those are few and far between after the first month or two, so it’s not a deal-breaker.

When you get a Zipadee Zip, make sure you get the right size. The sizing is a little different than most sleep sacks, so just pay attention to the ages/weights suggested.

How many wearable blankets do you need?

You definitely want more than one sleep sack at a time. You want at least 2, probably 3, at a given size. That way, in case your baby has a poopsplosion in the night (it happens), you’ll have a backup while you throw the Zipadee Zip he was wearing into the wash.

The Zipadee Zip comes in lots of super cute prints. Like, it’s hard to pick just 2 or 3. The plus side is that as your baby outgrows each size, you get to try new prints!

Conclusions on the Zipadee Zip

I hope this review helps you decide if the Zipadee Zip will work for your baby. My only regret about the Zipadee Zip is that I didn’t learn about it until my fourth baby.

Wondering what all you need for baby (and what you can skip) besides wearable blankets? Make sure you sign up for my printable non-toxic baby registry checklist, or check out this article for all you need to know.