Children Sleeping Bags for Camping
It’s only natural for parents to want their kids to sleep well at night on a camping trip. You are responsible for your kid’s warmth and comfort at camp.
However, children have different requirements to adults when it comes to sleeping bags. The design of sleeping bags for kids are a lot more simpler.
Cheaper materials are usually used in the construction of kids sleeping bags. Most are filled with synthetics rather than down. If you’re going to invest in a high quality bag for your kids, better make sure that they won’t outgrow them in a few years.
However, price is not the only reason why synthetics are much more preferable to down. Synthetics are less easily damaged than down and they’re easier to maintain. This is important especially when your kids are in the nappy years. You’ll rarely ever see kids sleeping bags with down fillings but the Montbell UL Alpine Down Hugger #3 Sleeping Bag is one of the best if you can afford it.
For backpacking, weight is an important consideration. There may not be much difference in weight between down and synthetic sleeping bags for kids since they’re very small.
It’s inevitable that lower quality kids sleeping bags are more popular. Since kids sleep warmer than adults, down may be overkill anyway. Even with bigger surface/volume ratio which causes kids to lose more heat, they sleep warmer because they have a higher metabolic rate.
Choose sleeping bags with a hood, draft tube and draft collar if you to be sure that your kids stay warm. The hood is useful because you can lose a lot of heat through your head.
The North Face Tigger is generally known for its warmth and comfort but it also has some important safety features. There are no cords to get tangled in and no way of adjusting the hood or chest section so that it closes off completely.
Heat can escape through the zipper coils but a draft tube (an insulation-filled tube that runs alongside the main zipper) prevents this from happening. Additional, some bags have insulated tubes positioned just above the shoulders to prevent heat from radiating out of the sleeping bag.
You’ll find that kids sleeping bags are also made by REI, Deuter, Lafuma, Big Agnes and Slumberjack among others.
The bags range from cheap rectangular ones you can find at Walmart to sophisticated models that have all the bells and whistles. In general, kids sleeping bags are cheap but it cost as much or more than the adult version depending on the level of sophistication.