Parents often put as much thought into their baby's bedding as they do into their baby's crib and other baby products.
Unfortunately, they often over-think it, choosing expensive bedding sets with quilts, puffy bumper pads, and thick blankets.
When it comes to baby bedding, simple is often better -- and much safer.
Safe Baby Bedding
When shopping for baby cribs, outfitting your nursery, and buying baby bedding, keep in mind that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) advises that "babies have been found dead on their stomachs with their faces, noses, and mouths covered by soft bedding, such as pillows, quilts, comforters and sheepskins."
Instead of using these types of baby bedding, the CPSC recommends that you use "a sleeper or other sleep clothing as an alternative to blankets, with no other covering." This can include a sleep sack or wearable sleep blanket or footed sleeper.
If you do use a blanket in your baby's crib, the CPSC recommends that you put your baby's "feet at the foot of the crib. Tuck a thin blanket around the crib mattress, reaching only as far as the baby's chest," making sure that the blanket doesn't cover your baby's head.
Most importantly, remove any quilts, stuffed animals, comforters, and other soft bedding items from your baby's crib.
Unsafe Cribs
Although experts on crib safety have been warning parents for years about keeping extra items out of baby cribs, the latest report from the CPSC found that about half of the crib-related deaths from 2002 to 2004 "were due to suffocation when infants ended up face down on pillows or face down in a crib with pillows, quilts and other bedding."
Items in and around cribs, in addition to bedding, can also make a crib unsafe, including window blind cords, monitor cords, broken or missing crib pieces, and poor-fitting crib mattresses.
Bumber Pads
The use of bumper pads is controversial. Since your baby's head can't fit through the slats of a crib that has been made with safety standards that were put in place in 1974, many experts question the need for the use of bumper pads. Their use is being especially discouraged by some because they have been thought to be a suffocation hazard and possible risk for SIDS.
If you do use bumper pads, use thin ones that aren't puffy, make sure they fit all around the crib, are secured in place, and remove them once your baby can stand.
Keep in mind that bumper pads are a strictly decorative feature, so save your money when choosing your crib and don't even buy bumper pads.
Sources:
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Soft Bedding May Be Hazardous To Babies.
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Safety Alert. Release #08-203. Building Baby Safety From the Ground Up. February 28, 2008.
