Woolino 4 Season Ultimate Review
Our Verdict
Compare to Similar Products
This Product
Woolino 4 Season Ultimate | |||||
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Awards | Best Sleepsack | Best Newborn Swaddle | Best Bang for the Buck Organic Option | Best for Baby's Hips | Most Versatile Swaddle |
Price | $109 List $109.00 at Amazon | $30 List $29.95 at Amazon | $25 List $16.17 at Amazon | $25 List | $40 List $10.00 each at Amazon |
Overall Score | |||||
Star Rating | |||||
Bottom Line | Expensive but durable sleep sack made from natural materials that requires special care to clean | A quality swaddle blanket that brings security to the table with a Velcro free design but there is lots of layers and wrapping required | A cozy, affordable sleep sack made with organic cotton that tends to run big and could be too light for colder weather | A hip friendly swaddle that is soft and durable, but somewhat complicated to use and the closure mechanism is loud | Beautiful swaddling and multi-purpose blanket uses soft quality materials, but it is harder to use than sleep sacks |
Rating Categories | Woolino 4 Season Ul... | Miracle Blanket | Burt's Bees Baby Be... | Ergobaby Swaddler | Aden + Anais Classi... |
Baby Comfort (40%) | |||||
Ease of Use (40%) | |||||
Durability (20%) | |||||
Specs | Woolino 4 Season Ul... | Miracle Blanket | Burt's Bees Baby Be... | Ergobaby Swaddler | Aden + Anais Classi... |
Style | Sleep Sack | Swaddle Wrap | Sleep Sack | Velcro Swaddle | Traditional Swaddle Blanket |
Material | Organic Cotton with Merino Wool Core | Cotton | GOTS Certified Organic Cotton | Cotton | Cotton Muslin |
Zipper Direction | Two-way | NA | Reverse | NA | NA |
TOG rating | NA | Not Listed | 0.5 | 0.5 | NA |
Age Range | 2 Months-4 Years | 0-14 Weeks | 0-18 Months | 0-3 Months | All ages |
Available Sizes | Baby, Toddler | One Size | Small, Medium, Large | One Size | 47" x 47" |
Washing Instructions | Machine wash cool. Can be tumble dried on No Heat or Air Dry setting. Hang to dry whenever possible. | Machine wash cold, tumble dry low | Machine wash cold and tumble dry on low | Machine wash, tumble dry low | Wash with like colors, do not wash with any thing that could snag (velcro, buttons, snaps) |
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Woolino company was founded by a new mom, Mimi, who wanted to keep her first child safe and cozy through the night. After scouring the sleep sack market and coming away unsatisfied with the options, she decided to make her own. With ambitions to create a sleep sack that was both safe and comfortable for babies and toddlers, she needed a high-quality and multi-seasonal material. Mimi found cotton too lightweight for winter and synthetic suits too prone to overheating in the summer; merino wool was a perfect choice. Since its inception in 2010, the company took off, and Woolino is now one of the top manufacturers of wool-made baby sleep sacks and clothing.
Performance Comparison
Likes
The Woolino 4 Season Ultimate sleepsack is one of our favorite options for dressing your baby for bedtime. With two available sizes, you can use this sleep sack from 2mo-2y and 2-4y. This combined total of nearly four years is the longest usage span of all the products we tested, and with proper care, the durable materials last well past the point when your baby outgrows the sack. It is an item that can be passed down to a little brother, sister, or cousin when the time comes.
The Ultimate sleep sack has a core layer of fine merino wool encased in soft organic cotton that is cozy against your baby's skin. Wool is a naturally breathable and temperature-regulating material that helps to lessen the potential of baby overheating or getting too cold while also eliminating the need to purchase multiple products for different seasons. Woolino merino wool is Woolmark and Oeko-Tex 100, and their cotton is GOTS and Oeko-Tex 100 certified organic. We appreciate that the company uses high-quality and environmentally responsible materials and love that they strive to reduce the number of chemicals in their products.
You can adjust the fit of the sleep sack through a series of discreet buttons near the armpits and shoulders. These snaps keep the material snug against the baby's body, and as your little one grows, they can be left open to accommodate. Thanks to a zipper that runs around the entire edge of the garment and snappable shoulder straps, the sleep sack can be opened and laid flat before placing your baby on top. We appreciated this feature the most when we had to dress an already sleeping baby and didn't have to squeeze their arms to fit through small armholes or try to pull the fabric out from underneath without waking them.
Dislikes
There are very few things that we would change about this sleep sack; it'sjust that great. However, there are a few things to note before buying. Wool is a wonderful natural material, but it requires some extra care if you want to avoid shrinkage and help your sleep sack last through the years. You must wash the Ultimate sleep sack on a gentle/cold cycle, and while you have the option to machine dry on a no heat cycle, Woolino recommends line drying whenever possible. The washing process may take longer than some other products, and you may want to purchase a backup for washdays as the triple-layered fabric may take a while to dry.
Woolino claims their sleep sack is appropriate for babies as young as two months, shortly after your baby transitions out of the swaddling stage. However, parents complain that there is WAY too much fabric for smaller infants, and it tends to get twisted and tangled.
We purchased the smaller size for our two 1/2-month-old tester and found this to be only somewhat true. There was a lot of excess fabric around her legs. However, the shoulder and armpit snaps keep the fit close and prevent the fabric from riding up towards her face. The extra material is likely more of an inconvenience for parents to deal with, but it does not affect baby comfort or safety.
Conclusion
Like us, you probably want your baby to have a comfortable, cozy, and safe sleep environment. The Woolino helps deliver on all fronts by keeping loose blankets out of the crib and using high-quality environmentally responsible materials that keep your baby snug as a bug in a rug. While it is a much more substantial investment than any other product we tested, with proper care, this garment can last for years and go from child to child. If your budget allows, we highly recommend the Woolino 4 Season Ultimate sleep sack.