What is TOG rating?

Sleep quality is an important factor for both of our mental and physical health. The same principle applies to babies and toddlers so parents go out of their way to make sure their bundle of joy gets a good quality sleep time. Parents often come across the question of how to dress babies or toddlers for bedtime, how many layers? Are they too hot or too cold? It used to be base on thickness of the fabric to determine what’s appropriate, but relying on thickness can be misleading as different materials have different properties.  Then parents begin to learn about different types of fabric and their warmth retention ability, but it’s still difficult to determine base on fabric type and “hand-feel” on thickness.  Lately, more and more people are relying on TOG rating of sleep bags or sleep sacks, which is a more scientific approach as it uses same standards that can be used across different brands and materials.  

But a quick question comes to mind, what is “TOG rating”?  TOG stands for ‘Thermal Overall Grade’, which is a unit of measurement used to calculate the thermal insulation of a product, often used in duvets, baby sleepwear, socks, and even carpets. The higher the TOG rating, the warmer it will keep you or the more heat it will retain. This means higher TOG ratings keep your baby warm during colder winter months, while lower TOG ratings keep your baby cool in the hotter summer season. The chart below will give you a quick reference on what TOG rating baby sleep sacks or sleepwear are appropriate for particular nursery room temperatures.

• 0.5 TOG: This is suitable for warm climates/nursery. Babysoy uses lightweight fabric to make our 0.5 TOG sleep sacks. It is a lightweight version of a swaddling blanket.  If you feel comfortable with only a light sheet, then a 0.5 TOG would be perfect for your little one.

• 1.0 TOG: This is often refer to as the “universal” or “year-round” TOG because the ideal room temperature for sleeping children is between 20 and 24 degrees Celsius (68 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit). You can always add a layer to make them warmer or take off a layer to keep them cool.

• 2.5 TOG: this is the sleep bag that will keep your little one all snuggly and cozy during those colder winter months when the nursery temperature may dip into the low 60’s (Fahrenheit). Most likely these sleep sacks will have fillings in them.

Why is TOG rating for baby sleepwear important?

• Babies (especially newborns) do not regulate their own temperature well, so it’s important that we use TOG rating to help parents pick out the suitable sleepwear so babies don’t wake up constantly. Remember, they sleep well, you sleep well!

• Parents often think being warm is the best, but studies shown that overheating is a factor for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). So it’s important to dress your babies or toddlers base on the room temperature of their nursery and how many layers you are putting on them. A good rule of thumb is to dress baby in one layer more than you are wearing as a parent.

• Please keep in mind that all babies are different, some may like to stay cool while others want to be warm and cozy. Babysoy uses azlon from soy fabric which has superior air permeability to help babies regulate their body temperature.  We recommend you to check your baby’s temperature (by touch the nape of their neck) regularly.

• Please keep in mind that TOG measures warmth, not comfort. So we recommend checking the quality of materials used for the baby sleep sack, sleep gowns, or pajamas. Try to buy items made with sustainable or organic fabrics. As we have point out in our other articles, buy quality and not quantity, it’s not only good for your babies but also good to our environment.