Crib Safety: What Every Parent Should Know
Is your baby’s crib safe? Plus, don’t be in a rush for everything plush. Here are crib safety tips for your peace of mind.
When planning a baby’s room, crib safety is often overlooked by soon-to-be parents eager to surround their child with a cheerful, pleasant and engaging environment. This is understandable given the joys of parenthood, but your baby will be spending a great amount of time in the crib, so you want to make it as safe as possible for him or her. The following are a number of ideas that can help you make the crib a safe place.
Crib Structure: Get Out Your Tape Measure
Many parents get sentimental about bringing ancestral cribs into the nursery. They feel it was good enough for them, but what they don’t realize is that we know a lot more about crib safety today than we did a decade ago. If an older crib has corner posts, decorative cutouts, or may have been painted with lead paint, it should not be used for an infant today.
If your crib has slats with gaps in between, get out the tape measure and make sure they are no more than 2 3/8 inches apart. Gaps that are wider than that can present a danger of strangulation for a small child. Cribs made before 1974 are the biggest hazard, since they were not bound to the safety guidelines implemented after that time.
Little boy climbing out of his crib.
When your newborn starts to practice standing up, you have to watch for the height of the rails vis-a-vis the height of the baby when standing on the mattress. When the top rail height is less than three quarters the height of your baby, you need to stop using the crib altogether.
While mesh-sided cribs can be much safer than hard wood cribs, check that the holes in the mesh are no larger than a quarter of an inch. This will ensure that buttons on your baby’s clothing will not get tangled in the mesh fabric.
Before purchasing a new crib you want to make certain it has been certified by the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA). This certification gives some confidence that the baby’s bed meets national crib safety guidelines, but it still falls on your shoulders to thoroughly look over the crib and ensure it does not pose any hazards to your child.
Assembling the Crib
A foremost crib safety tip is to always check for any loose, bent or broken parts. Any dinged teething rails should be fixed or replaced to ensure the infant’s safety. Also check for cutting edges, splinters or rough surfaces that could hurt the baby’s delicate skin in case contact is made with those parts.
If you have a drop side crib, make sure that your infant is not able to unlatch it unintentionally or even on purpose. You also want to make sure it is designed to release in two distinct actions.
Selecting Your Baby’s Mattress
The mattress should fit firmly into the crib so there is no space. If you are able to place two fingers between the crib side and the mattress, then change the mattress immediately. A loose mattress has many risks. For example, when the baby is standing, the mattress could quickly jerk to one side, causing the infant to fall and possibly hurt himself close to the crib’s railings.
Accessorizing the Crib
Many baby safety organizations recommend taking out everything inside the crib that could potentially smother newborns as they wiggle around. This includes pillows, quilts, large stuffed animals or toys, sheepskins, and fluffy bumper pads. If you decide to bring these items into the crib, take the necessary precautions to avoid sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
You may want to consider using a sleeper instead of a covering; however, if you do use a blanket, keep it lower on the infant’s chest. Position the baby towards the foot of the crib, enabling you to tuck the blanket around the mattress on three sides with the chest and head free of covering. Additionally, always lay your baby to sleep on his back, not his stomach.
Plush bumper pads look attractive in a crib, but the safest ones are the thinner, stiffer variety. Make sure these pads encircle the crib and that there are enough ties to keep it secured to the bed at all times. You should also trim off long laces so they do not present a danger to your growing baby.
Other Safety Tips
The crib should never be placed next to a window, especially if there are cords for blinds or curtains hanging loosely which could choke your infant.
One of the first items that should be installed in the baby’s room is a fire detector with batteries in good working order.
Don’t keep plastic laundry bags anywhere in the nursery. These items are feather light and easily blow around the room, and could present a breathing danger to the baby.
This is such an exciting time in your life! Welcoming a new baby into the world should be special and you deserve the enjoyment of preparing the nursery. Just make sure you are also looking after the safety of your baby while in the most adorable room of your home: the infant’s own bedroom!
At Bella & Fella Children’s Bedding, we believe in keeping infants happy, healthy, and safe at all times. We offer crib bedding sets but we are also willing to make items available individually when possible. Just let us know what you need and we will do everything possible to get you the safest, most comfortable baby nursery bedding available! You deserve to parent with sound peace of mind and we understand that starts with smart choices in safe crib bedding.
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