What is a TOG rating?
As soon as you enter the baby world, you’re hit with a whole new language of things that you had never heard before. TOG rating, awake windows, set schedule, sleep prop…just to name a few.
I am a huge lover of sleep sacks, and with every sleep sack there is a TOG rating. A TOG rating is the “thermal overall grade” of the fabric. What this means is the TOG is telling you exactly how warm or cool the sleep sack is. Sleep sacks range anywhere from 0.5-2.5 TOG (sometimes higher). The higher the number, the warmer the sack.
There is a natural dip in our body temperature around 4am. If your child’s sleep sack isn’t warm enough, it can be a common time to wake up.
As a general measure, TOG ratings are suitable for these temperatures:
0.5 TOG: 23-27 Degrees Celsius
1.0 TOG: 21-23 Degrees Celsius
1.5 TOG: 19-21 Degrees Celsius
2.0 TOG: 17-20 Degrees Celsius
2.5 TOG: 16-20 Degrees Celsius
Each child is different when it comes to their core temperature. Some babies are naturally warm, and others are naturally cool. By knowing where your child falls on this spectrum will also help you determine which sleep sack would work best for them.
As a guide, I generally put my kids in a 1.5-2.5 TOG sleep sack in the winter, and a 1.0-1.5 TOG sleep sack in the warmer summer months. We do have centralized air conditioning, so our home stays at a pretty consistent temperature throughout the year.
What I do want you to know, is that putting your child in a sleep sack acts as a cue for them in their sleep routine. Even if it is super warm in your home, I still want you to put your child in a sleep sack. You would just simply dress them “down” by having them in a thin sleep sack and then just a diaper or a onesie.
A few of my favourite sleep sack brands include: Woolino, Perlimpinpin, and Kyte Baby.
What are your favourites?
