Kids Sleeping Bags
It's only natural for parents to want their kids to sleep well at night on a camping trip. Your kid's warmth and comfort is your responsibility if you are the parent.
However, kids have different requirements to adults when it comes to sleeping bags. The design of sleeping bags for kids are a lot more simpler.
They’re made of cheaper materials than full-size sleeping bags. Synthetics materials are more commonly used rather than down. When people do buy kids sleeping bags made of high quality materials they make sure that it will at least last a few years before the kids outgrow them.
Price is not the determining factor why down is less preferred than synthetics. Less care is needed when using synthetic sleeping bags and when wet they're easy to dry. It's a much better material especially if your kids still wear nappies. The Montbell UL Alpine Down Hugger 3 if a good option if you prefer your kids to use down sleeping bags.
Weight is an important consideration if your kids are going backpacking as well because either you or them are going to carry it. However, since kids sleeping bags are small, the difference may not be very big.
It's inevitable that lower quality kids sleeping bags are more popular. The kids may not really need down insulation anyway because most kids sleep warmer than adults. Physics would tell us that the kids lose more heat because of their small bodies but they compensate by having a higher metabolic rate.
The hood, draft tube and draft collar in the sleeping bags help to keep your kids stay warm at night. The hood is critical in really cold weather because you lose a lot of heat through your head.
The North Face Tigger is a popular choice of its 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. Draft collars are insulated tubes positioned just above the shoulders to prevent the body heat from radiating up and out of the sleeping bag.
Deuter, Integral Designs, Big Agnes, Lafuma, Slumberjack and Tough Traveller all make sleeping bags that cater for kids.
There's a huge range of kids sleeping bags that can be found in the market from cheap baby-fat types to ones that have everything including shaped hoods, pad loops, draft tubes and more. The materials used, features and design can skyrocket the cost of kids sleeping bags.