Somewhere around the third night, every new parent discovers that baby clothes are not really about clothes. They are about how quickly you can change a nappy at 3am with one hand, whether anything has to be pulled over a sleeping head, and how a fabric feels against skin that has only been in the world for a few days.
Sleepsuits come in two main designs — the kimono wrap and the zip-up — and the honest answer is that they are good at different things. Here is how to choose.
What is a kimono sleepsuit?
A kimono sleepsuit wraps across the front like a little dressing gown and fastens at the side, so nothing ever needs to go over your baby's head. That matters more than it sounds: newborns startle easily, many babies hate having things pulled past their face, and in the first days you are often dressing a baby whose umbilical cord stump still needs air and gentle handling — a wrap front keeps everything visible and loose around the tummy.
Ours add fold-over mittens at the cuffs, because newborns scratch themselves long before they understand they have hands.
What is a zip-up sleepsuit?
A zip-up fastens from ankle to chin in one motion. Its entire argument is speed — and at 3am, speed wins. No popper roulette in the dark, no mismatched studs at the end. A two-way zip also lets you open from the bottom for a nappy change while the top half stays warm and asleep.
Which is right for your newborn?
For the first six weeks or so, the kimono wrap is the gentler design. Nothing over the head, easy access for cord care, and dressing a floppy, brand-new baby is simply calmer when the garment opens flat and wraps around them.
Once nappy changes become the main event, the zip-up earns its keep. From around six weeks — when babies are sturdier, feed-change-sleep cycles are relentless, and you are doing several changes a night — most parents reach for the zip first.
In practice, the families we dress tend to keep both: wraps for the newborn weeks and for layering, zips for the night shift. If you are building a hospital bag or a gift, a pair of kimono sleepsuits in newborn size plus a zip-up in 0–3 months covers the first two months properly.
Whichever you choose, the fabric matters most
A sleepsuit is the garment your baby lives in — often 20 hours a day in the early weeks — so the fabric does more work than anything else in the drawer. Every Caico Cotton sleepsuit is cut from 100% organic Egyptian cotton — the softest cotton in the world. It is GOTS certified, hypoallergenic, and gets softer with every wash rather than bobbling or thinning. No polyester blends, no scratchy seams, nothing you would not want against brand-new skin.
Sizing, briefly
Our sleepsuits run from newborn (NB) to 18 months. Newborn size fits most babies up to around 4.5kg; if your baby measures large at the final scan, start at 0–3 months. When in doubt, size up — babies grow into things in weeks, not months.
Browse the full sleepsuit collection here — kimono wraps and zip-ups, eight colourways, newborn to 18 months. Free UK delivery on orders over £50.