Blanket Sleepers

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanket_sleeper

The blanket sleeper (also known by many other synonyms and trade names) is a type of especially warm sleeping garment worn primarily during the winter in the United States and Canada. The garment is worn especially by infants and young children.

Typically, but not always, the blanket sleeper consists of a loose-fitting, one-piece garment of blanket-like material, enclosing the entire body except for the head and hands. It represents an intermediate step between regular pajamas, and bag-like coverings for infants such as buntings or infant sleeping bags (Terminology and Variations sections below). Like bag-like coverings, the blanket sleeper is designed to be sufficiently warm as to make regular blankets or other bed covers unnecessary, even in colder weather. Unlike such coverings, the blanket sleeper has bifurcated legs to allow unhindered walking (or crawling).

While no single feature is universal (see Terminology), distinguishing a blanket sleeper from regular pajamas usually include:

• One-piece construction with long sleeves and legs.
• Attached bootees enclosing the wearer's feet.
• Composition from relatively thick, heavy fabric.

Although any sleeping garment with some or all of these characteristics could be called a blanket sleeper, the term is most commonly applied to a range of styles that deviate relatively little from the same basic design. (The features of this design are described in the Features section, below.)

Although widely thought of as something worn only by the very young, blanket sleepers are also sometimes worn (in decreasing order of frequency) by school-age children, teens, and even adults. (See Sizes, gender differences, and availability, below.)

Although footed, one-piece garments in a variety of fabrics and styles are used in many countries as infant sleepwear, the specific range of styles with which the term blanket sleeper is usually associated, the term itself, and the phenomenon of children older than infancy wearing footed, one-piece sleeping garments, are all largely unique to North America.

The terminology relating to blanket sleepers can be confusing, and inconsistent between different speakers.

The terms sleeper and blanket sleeper are sometimes used interchangeably. Alternatively, a distinction may be made between the lighter-weight (footed, one-piece) sleepers worn by infants in warmer weather, and the heavier blanket sleepers worn by both infants and older children, primarily in colder weather. (In the loosest usage, sleeper by itself can mean any infant sleeping garment, regardless of form or features.) Similarly, some people consider a blanket sleeper to be one-piece by definition, whereas a sleeper could be made either in one piece, or in two pieces meeting at the waist.

When blanket is omitted, either the singular form sleeper or the plural form sleepers may be used to refer to a single garment. When blanket is included, however, a single garment is usually referred to using the singular form.

The terms (blanket) sleeper and footed pajamas may be used interchangeably. (This reflects the North American practice of referring to nearly any sleeping garment as pajamas, as blanket sleepers bear little resemblance to the jacket and trouser combination, originating in India, that the term pajamas originally referred to.) Alternatively, sleeper may instead be used more narrowly than footed pajamas, to exclude footed sleeping garments that are lighter-weight and/or two-piece, such as footed "ski" style pajamas.

Also, while many people consider built-in feet to be part of the definition of sleeper, garments otherwise meeting the definition but lacking feet are sometimes marketed as footless blanket sleepers.

The term grow sleeper is sometimes used to refer to a two-piece footed sleeping garment with features designed to compensate for growth in the wearer, such as turn-back cuffs, or a double row of snap fasteners at the waist.

Other terms that are used more-or-less interchangeably with blanket sleeper include:

• footed sleeper
• footed pj's
• feeted/feety/footy/footsie/feetsie/feet pajamas
• footies
• nighties
• pajamas with feet
• pajamas with the feet in them
• padded feet pajamas
• one-piece pajamas
• zip-up pajamas
• sleeper suit
• sleeper blanket
• walking blanket
• walking sleeper
• sleeper walker
• oversleeper (used in advertisements by J.C. Penney)
• bunny suit
• bunny pajamas
• bunny feet pajamas
• potato mashers
• dormer (older girls' and women's sizes only)

Also, a number of commercial brand names have been adopted as genericized trademarks. The best known of these is Dr. Dentons, but others used include Trundle Bundle and Jama-Blanket.

Formerly used, obsolete terms include:

• night drawers
• sleeping drawers
• sleeping garment
• coverlet sleeper
• pajunion (used in advertisements by Brighton-Carlsbad)

In British English, the term with a meaning closest to that of blanket sleeper is sleepsuit, but it is also known as a romper suit.

Infants' garments similar to blanket sleepers, but with the bottom portion constructed like a bag, without separate leg enclosures, are usually not considered sleepers, but rather are referred to by other terms such as baby sleep bag, bunting, sleeping bag, go go bag, sleep sack, or grow bag.

Infants' garments similar to blanket sleepers, but designed for use as outerwear rather than sleepwear (and usually featuring hoods and hand covers), are referred to by other terms such as pram suit or carriage suit.

Infants' garments similar to blanket sleepers, but designed for dual use as both sleepwear and playwear, are sometimes known as sleep 'n' play suits.