Sleeping Bags for Kids

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.

Since kids are probably not ever going to camping in extreme conditions they won't need state of the art sleeping bags.

Manufacturers usually make use of cheaper materials to make kids sleeping bags . The use of down insulation is rather uncommon. People buy high quality sleeping bags for kids that won't outgrown in a few short years.

Besides price, there's another reason why synthetics are used instead of down. Synthetics require less attention to maintenance and they still provide some insulation when wet. Down would be too troublesome as the kids won't handle them carefully enough. Down sleeping bags for kids are not very common and they cost quite a lot of money.

Weight is an important consideration if your kids are going backpacking as well because either you or them are going to carry it. There may not be much difference in weight between down and synthetic sleeping bags for kids since they're very small.

It's no surprise that cheap kids sleeping bags are more popular. Down may be overkill anyway since kids sleep warmer than adults. 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. In cold weather, the hood is a must have because heat is lost through the head the fastest.

One of the most popular sleeping bag for children is The North Face Tigger which is rated at 20 degrees and made of synthetic fill. The absense of cords to adjust the hood, your kid won't be tangled during sleep.

A draft tube enhances the effectiveness of a kids sleeping bag by preventing heat from escaping through the zipper coils. Insulated tubes positioned above the shoulders, called the draft tube, prevents heat generated by the body from escaping up the sleeping bag.

Other well known brands that make sleeping bags for kids include L.L. Bean, REI, Lafuma, Deuter, Big Agnes and Integral Designs. There are others as well and they're quite easy to find.

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. Depending on the level of sophistication, kids sleeping bags can cost as much as the adult version.