Sleepyhead Grand Review – The Original Toddler Sleeping Pod

Sleepyhead Grand Review – The Original Toddler Sleeping Pod

My youngest is now 16 months old and she’s been a good sleeper from the start but only under one condition: being close to mama! We’ve been co-sleeping since she was a newborn because she had reflux which meant she had to sleep on her side and I wanted to sleep next to her so that I could keep her laid that way and so that I could hear her if she was being sick. I was worried that she’d roll over onto her face or onto her back and be sick if she was in a cot at that stage. Co-sleeping was the only solution.

The reflux lasted a few months but our toddler was still sleeping in our bed most nights until recently. Co-sleeping is a difficult habit to break but even with a super king size bed, we wanted our space back. Our kids take up a lot of room in our bed as they sleep like starfish that rotate like helicopters… Our eldest is 3.5 years and often comes and joins us half-way through the night too.

We started trying to get our youngest to sleep in her cot bed and at least stay there for the first half of the night but she woke up after a few hours wanting a cuddle and some closeness. A bare cot bed is very different from sleeping next to your mum so I completely understand why she kept waking.

I used a baby nest with our firstborn and that worked quite well with her and helped her stay asleep in her own bed when she was a baby and when I spotted the Sleepyhead Grand online — a toddler sleeping pod — I knew I wanted to try it with my toddler to see if that helped transition her from co-sleeping to sleeping in her own bed.

The Sleepyhead Grand is a multitasking pod for children from around 8-9 months to 36 months. It’s just like a very large baby nest that is the perfect size for standard, full-size cot beds. It can be used for sleeping, cuddling, playing, lounging and resting and can be used at home and when travelling. It comes with a protective storage bag to transport it and store it in when not in use.

It’s great for the transition to a cot, like how we are using it, as the air-permeable bumpers make the cot feel more secure and cozy. The bumpers also act as bed rails to keep children in beds without sides in the bed at night.

Designed with love in Sweden and made in Europe. All materials used are breathable, washable and hypoallergenic. Sleepyhead GRAND offers excellent air-permeability. All filling materials are sourced from world-leading suppliers with breathable, hygienic and non-toxic properties. Globally patented.

I love that the Sleepyhead Grand is completely breathable and rigorously tested and proven to be safe. As soon as it arrived, I put it in my toddler’s bed and it was timed perfectly as it was nap-time so I could try it out straight away. It worked so well from the start! This nap was the longest she’d ever had and I even had to wake her!

The first night was amazing too — my toddler slept in her own bed, snug in the Sleepyhead Grand until 5.55 in the morning which is many more hours than usual. More often than not, she’s in our bed before midnight. Sometimes she’s even up before we’ve gone to bed!

We had a few more good nights and then my toddler got a really bad cold (the rest of us did too!) and started a bad teething phase. Since then, she’s not been sleeping through but she’s still sleeping better in the Sleepyhead Grand than she did before we had it — even with a cold and teething. The cold is nearly gone and hopefully this teething session is over soon too!

I definitely believe that the Sleepyhead Grand works and helps toddlers sleep for longer if the reason they are waking is that they don’t feel secure and cozy. My daughter’s issue was definitely that she wanted to feel close to us and had gotten used to not being alone in bed. I feel that the Sleepyhead Grand is helping make sleeping in her cot more similar to sleeping in our bed and therefore, she is sleeping longer and resettling herself better as she’s not suddenly waking up in a bare cot bed. We are using a cot duvet with the Sleepyhead Grand now that it’s cold at night.

If your child is waking for other reasons than wanting to feel more snuggled, then it will not magically make them sleep through. Naturally, it doesn’t cure teething pain, blocked noses, coughs, hunger, thirst, bad dreams and other things that might wake a baby/toddler/child up at night but it does make children feel more comfortable in bed.

Another thing that this product does is that it makes it so much easier to transfer my sleeping toddler from our bed to her bed. Before, she used to wake up about half of the times as I put her down on her mattress but now, when I put her in her Sleepyhead Grand, she stays asleep as it’s so cozy and lovely. It must feel similar to our bed! She’s not woken up once during this move since the Sleepyhead arrived. She always falls asleep in our bed — I don’t make babies that fall asleep on their own! I don’t mind this routine at all now that I know transferring her to her own bed will not be a problem.

The Sleepyhead Grand costs around £200. You can currently buy the plain white one for £180 from Amazon.co.uk. The patterned ones cost a bit more. This is quite expensive but I do think it’s worth the price and the investment. Many people make their own sleeping nests but then you can’t guarantee the product and the materials are safe and made to the standards necessary for a product like this to be sold.

After reading about all the tests the Sleepyhead products have been through, I’m of the opinion that it’s a very safe product to use with your children. You are paying for the quality and the safety aspects of the product. The Sleepyhead Grand is completely breathable so if your child likes to snuggle their face into the sides or the mattress, it doesn’t matter as they can breathe through the materials.

The only safety thing that I was concerned about is that the pod creates a step that toddlers can step up onto and potentially use to climb out of a cot bed. I just keep the video monitor on my toddler when she’s asleep and we’re downstairs. At night, we’re in the same room so we hear her if she gets up and it will not be long before we take a side off the cot to make a toddler bed.

You can buy separate spare covers to match your decor and to have a spare one when you need to wash one. All parts are available as spares if you need them which is good if you have a baby that is sick a lot or if you’re potty training. The extras and spares are quite pricey too though.

You can’t really put a price on a good night’s sleep (well, many good nights!) and many parents would pay much more. You can use the Sleepyhead Grand for at least 28 months so if you have the plain one, that’s less than £6.50 per month or around 21p per night which is not bad at all. I think it’s worth it!

Read more on the Sleepyhead of Sweden website.

I was sent this product for this review. As always, all my reviews are 100% honest and all thoughts and opinions are my own.