One of the great loves of my life is sleep. I was so excited when we learned we were expecting the twinblings, but one of my biggest anxieties about their arrivals was the looming loss of sleep. So I have always been extremely curious about any product that claims to help babies sleep longer and better.
I was made aware of the Merlin Magic Sleepsuit when I was still pregnant. Two of my friends who had twins absolutely swore by the Merlin and they said that they could not have gotten through the first year without them. I mentally filed this information away during my pregnancy, and when our pediatrician advised against swaddling at the two-month mark, I went on Amazon and purchased a Merlin suit the very same day. More recently I also purchased a Zipadee-Zip. From my limited research on mommy Facebook groups and blogs, the Merlin and the Zipadee seem to be the most popular sleepsuit solutions for babies to transition out of their swaddles so I figured a comparison might be fun, based on my own experience with them.
How does it work?
I have to preface these explanations by saying that I am no expert in baby sleep so please take these explanations with a huge grain of salt. (Although let’s face it, products with “magic” in their name imply that even the creators of these sleep outfits are not quite sure how they work either!)
The Merlin suit is puffy and somewhat stiff. My understanding is that it works by weighing down baby’s arms and legs so that she feels a bit restricted (albeit nothing like the restrictions a baby feels in utero, or even in a swaddle). I like to think of the Merlin the way that I think of my big cushy down comforter; I love to get all snuggled in under the weight of that puffy comforter and the Merlin is sort of like the safe baby version of that!
The Zipadee solution is made of lightweight thin fabric so it doesn’t have the puffy comfort of the Merlin. But the Zipadee restricts the space for baby’s arms so when she is startled in her sleep, the suit restricts some of that movement and baby is not fully awakened and/or can get back to sleep more easily. I would compare a Zipadee to an adult’s sleeping bag; you can’t move around very much in there and your movements are far more limited than if you’re sleeping in a bed.
Baby preference tied to swaddle preference?
As a newborn baby, Lilly always preferred to be swaddled with one or both arms out and she preferred being swaddled with SwaddleMe’s; she took to the Merlin suit instantly. On the other hand, Audrey always needed to be swaddled tightly because she very frequently startled herself awake and we nearly exclusively swaddled her in the Woombie as a newborn; she responded better to the Zipadee.
With Lilly one month older than Audrey, we started with Lilly in the Merlin first when she was around two months old. It worked so well that we naturally assumed Audrey would take to it just as well one month later. While she did fine in the Merlin, we never got long 8+ hour stretches of sleep with her until we tried the Zipadee. On the other hand, we never tried the Zipadee with Lilly considering our great initial success with her and the Merlin.
Cuteness factor
When we first put Lilly in that adorable pink Merlin suit, I laughed so hard that I cried. Lilly looked like the cutest pink marshmallow that I had ever seen! She immediately took to the suit and was so comfortable in it that her face took on a very serious contented look, which just made us laugh even harder. When we later transitioned Audrey to the Merlin suit, we likewise had a good laugh at how adorably puffy she looked in it!
Baby Lilly her first night in her Merlin suit.
Baby Audrey in her own Merlin.
As for the Zipadee-Zip, I can’t say that I’ve ever laughed out loud zipping Audrey in to the outfit. But the cuteness factor definitely was there the morning after her first night when I walked in to her nursery as she was waking up. She stretched out all her arms and legs and she looked like a cupcake-covered starfish! I laughed out loud but sadly was too slow with the camera to capture the moment.
Audrey waking up from her first night in her Zipadee-Zip.
Cost and access
The creators of these products have certainly done their pricing strategy homework because they cost approximately the same amount.
I purchased our Merlin suits on Amazon for $39.95 each and got free 2-day shipping with our Prime account.
I purchased the Zipadee-Zip for $36.95 at the company’s website and had to pay $7.95 for regular 7-10 day shipping. The total cost came to $44.90.
Quality, durability and variety
I have found the Merlin suit to be sturdy and high-quality. There are two zippers on each suit and I’ve never had a difficult time with the zippers. The fabric has held up well. My only beef with the Merlin is that it is so puffy that it takes a long time to dry. I remember one night right before bedtime when I almost broke down in tears when I realized that our nanny had washed Lilly’s Merlin suit that day and it hadn’t properly dried in our machine. We always had to run the Merlin suit through the dryer, but then also remove it from the dryer, turn it inside-out, and allow to air dry for even longer. I also will say that the Merlin only has three color choices (pink, yellow, blue) and is heavily branded on the front, which I don’t love.
On the other hand, the Zipadee-Zip has a larger offering of available prints. Organized by boy, girl, or neutral categories, there are different options available on their website. For my taste, however, I wasn’t really drawn to any of the prints – they all seemed very bright and garish; I wished they had some more subtle options. Like the Merlin, the Zipadee also has a zipper and I have never had trouble with it. I like that it zips from the bottom so I don’t have to fiddle with getting the tab in-line when both me and the baby are tired. The Zipadee is made of lightweight fabric and so it washes easily and dries quickly. However, I found that the Zipadee fabric started to pill right away, especially where Baby Audrey’s hands fit. I also dislike that the fabric is not 100% cotton, which I would expect for a product that cost me nearly 50 bucks.
Other considerations
When I took Baby Audrey in for her 2-month pediatric appointment, I was expecting to hear that it was time to transition her out of the swaddle because that is what we had heard one month earlier at Lilly’s 2-month appointment. When the question came up, I proudly declared that we were ready for the transition and that I had already purchased a Merlin suit for her.
Unfortunately, I was pretty devastated to hear the pediatrician say that she does not like the Merlin suit. She even went so far as to note this on our take-home papers so that I definitely couldn’t miss it! Her explanation was that the suit is too restrictive and she especially didn’t like it for babies who have poor muscle tone or coordination, an area that has always been more challenging for Audrey.
I hope my pediatrician doesn’t read this but I actually decided to keep using the Merlin on both babies despite this advice. But only a few weeks later, we had a physical therapist evaluate Lilly for the flat head she was developing and I received the same advice. The therapist told us that she also does not like the Merlin because it stops babies from rolling, which is good for their development and especially good for babies like Lilly who need to be encouraged to sleep on their sides more to stop the flat head from worsening.
Transitioning out
After hearing negative reviews from two medical professionals, I decided the time had come to move out of the Merlin suits. Mr. Starfish and I, as well as our nanny, were downright terrified to stop the Merlins. We all braced ourselves for a rocky sleep road, but we decided that quitting cold-turkey was the best approach.
I can honestly say that the transition out went much smoother than I anticipated. Lilly didn’t miss a beat, and she continued to sleep well and we didn’t really notice any difference. We hit the 4-month sleep regression with her around the same time but even that went better than we feared. Audrey, on the other hand, continued to wake 2-4 times during the night and we knew that she was not hungry or in need of a diaper change. It was then that I purchased the Zipadee and she has been sleeping in that for about 3 weeks now. She is sleeping her best right now, and the first night in the Zipadee she went nearly nine hours without crying.
In the end, I have mixed feelings about both of these products. On the negative side, I think that they are both vastly overpriced, and I also will repeat that two medical providers cautioned me against the Merlin (so far, no negative feedback from doctors on the Zipadee). On the positive side, both products did work for us and I credit them with happier and longer nights for the Starfish family. Any other pros and cons to these products that I’m missing?
guest
We used the zipadee zip with both our girls and I loved it. I don’t think it makes them sleep any longer than what they are developmentally ready for but I do think it helps with the unnecessary wake ups. I also considered it the blanket for them and kept both my girls in there’s until I felt comfortable with a blanket in bed. We even had to cut the hand and foot spots so that my daughter could keep wearing hers – this was before they did the flying squirrel.
I also didn’t like the crazy prints so we had a solids white, solid yellow, solid pink, and blue polka dots. I agree that they pill quickly and if they suck their hands in it, it gets gross. That’s why we had 4!
wonderful kiwi / 23653 posts
Merlin suit was awesome for us from like 2/3 months till 6 months! DD hated having her hands contained, so zipadee zip never worked for us. We just kinda cold turkey took off the suit around 6/7 months and maybe had 1-2 rougher nights but then she was fine! I definitely plan on trying both with DD2 to see which one she prefers!
guest
The Merlin was a lifesaver for us. A co-worker told me about it, when I had been back to work for a month, and he was still waking up every 2 hours throughout the night at 4 months. It was the only thing that worked! He had hated to be swaddled and always had fought to get his hands out of the swaddle from the beginning, so the Merlin allowed him enough movement to be happy! He never had a flat head, as he always slept with his head turned to one side, even in the Merlin suit. And, he was active during the day… I can understand the pediatricians’ concerns about restricted movement/development if the baby didn’t move all day long, but, they don’t live in the suits 24hrs a day! The transition out wasn’t as bad as we thought it could be. Once he was able to roll with the Merlin on, we quit it cold turkey, and he chose to roll and sleep on his stomach then. We will definitely try it with our next kiddo!
pomegranate / 3225 posts
Hey when it comes to sleep, trust your instincts! I also bought both of these. If it got me a little more sleep it was worth every penny! I ended up liking the Merlin better, but the zipadee zip was good too! I used these around the four month sleep regression. Wishing you lots of sleep
guest
Ive used the zippy’s on 2 of my 3 children, and #3 is going to be making the transition to the zippy soon. I keep procrastinating. She’ll be 4 months on the 13th, so I need to do it soon! I purchased the merlin sleep suit for #2 but he never seemed to like it, and it seemed like it would be hot. He is still in a sleep sack and he’ll be 2 in November. I use my zippy’s as wearable blankets and have at least 2 in every size. I am not a fan of the prints either. I have found that if you get a solid color you will more than likely end up with a more cottony fabric if that makes a difference
guest
I liked that the Merlin kept my baby boy warm on cool nights (might not be appreciated in warmer climates!) but the puffiness made middle of the night diaper changes a bit more challenging!
He started rolling at 3.5 months so I had to stop using the suit within 6 weeks of purchasing it. So I definitely felt like I didn’t get my money’s worth with the suit.
blogger / persimmon / 1225 posts
Very interesting! We have only tried the Merlin with Chip, he wore it for three months with minimal success. With Crumb we were able to avoid all sleep suits after swaddling but he is my good sleeper!
wonderful clementine / 24134 posts
For young babies I’m in love with the Love to dream Arms up Swaddle. Our 7 week old with reflux has gone much longer stretches because she’s able to have her arms up. Its more restrictive than the zippy but for younger babies that’s good
pomegranate / 3601 posts
The Zippy really helped us because it contains the hands. My DD would spend hours looking at her hands as a baby and then was too tired/overstimulated to fall asleep. She’s still in a zippy now at 21m. I liked that the size small were 100% cotton and once I read that the other sizes weren’t because they would have to be treated with chemicals I gladly took the cotton mix fabrics.