Baby crib bedding
There are numerous websites selling baby nursery bedding, it makes it difficult to choose from the wide variety available. Besides the color and the design, there are many areas that should be considered before making the right choice for your baby.
One of thing that most parents consider is pricing. Needless to say, that, of course, is important. It is not really worthwhile to buy crib bedding sets that are too expensive, in actual fact, your little one might not be using it for long.
However, parents must evaluate on the benefits that pricey bedding sets may bring.
Many mid-range baby nursery bedding are made with good quality materials at lower prices. Their designs are still as trendy, allowing parents to select one that would fit to the decoration of the room or simply one that looks pretty to them.
However, one significant factor that most parents forget is the material. The material of the bedding is an essential thing to take note of, this is especially due to the soft and sensitive skin as complications can give quite a big headache for parents. babies being young and weak, their skin gets irritated easily, causing rashes and bringing more problems such as sleepless nights for both the child and the parents.
Therefore, the material used to make the bedding is extremely important. When it comes to making baby bedding, the best material to choose from is cotton. It is delicate and easy on the skin, making sure that it would not cause any complications to the sensitive baby skin. Try to choose products that are 100% cotton, this would ensure that the bedding would be comfortable for the baby to sleep without causing any skin irritation.
Some baby bedding includes wool in the material which can become a problem for babies. Its inclusion usually makes the material a little scratchy, making your baby feel itchy and uncomfortable. For parents, they could not feel or have known about it as being adults, our skin is able to resist it. However for our little ones, their sensitive skin are unable to withstand the scratchy feeling the wool causes.
Also, when it is fully made of cotton, there are less chances of it running shape or shrinking due to the different expansion and contraction of the different materials being used to make a single bedding. In other words, the baby nursery bedding would be able to last longer and be in better condition till your baby is ready to move on to toddler beds!
Is your baby sleeping safely?
Throughout the whole day, newborns spend most of their time sleeping. They can sleep for up to 16 hours or more in a day, sleeping for about 3 hours during each rest period. Therefore considering the huge amount of time infants sleep, it is important to identify the safety issues when babies go to bed.
Firstly, co-sleeping can be very dangerous. For parents who are heavy sleepers, they might accidently crush or suffocate the baby. Not to mention, babies usually co-sleep together on their parents’ bed, there are heavy quilts and blankets that may accidently be placed over their face and cause babies to suffocate too.
Looking at all these dangers of co-sleeping, try to let your child sleep in a baby nursery bedding. Sleeping in a crib will have no dangers of parents turning onto their babies. Besides, there shouldn’t be any adult’s heavy quilts and blankets that may cause the baby to choke while sleeping. Therefore, parents are encouraged to get a baby nursery bedding for your little one to sleep in as it is safer than co-sleeping with the baby’s parents.
The use of blankets has also been dissuade by many as they are afraid that the blanket may carelessly cover the baby’s head, however some parents are afraid that their baby may catch a cold at night. Actually, there is a safe way of using a blanket that can avoid such incidents from happening during the baby’s rest. Just ensure that when your child is in the baby nursery bedding, both feet should be touching the end of the crib and the blanket shouldn’t be higher than his chest. In this way, it will not be easy for your baby to be covered by the blanket and there will be less risk of him sleeping at night with the blanket.
Letting your baby to sleep on her back is one safe way of sleeping too. Babies sleeping on their front may have risks of choking when your baby faces down on the mattress. Infants are too weak to turn over and recover from such a dangerous position. Therefore letting your child sleep on her back in the baby nursery bedding will be the safest option.
Some babies sleep better on their tummy because their heart feels close to something which makes them feel safe and at ease while sleeping. However, it is still not recommended to let your child sleep on her tummy until, maybe when she has the ability to be able to roll over in bed by herself.
When your baby goes to bed, try to let your baby wear light sleep clothing to prevent your baby from “overheating”,. Your baby’s sleeping area should be kept at a comfortable temperature and in such manner your baby will feel neither too cold nor warm. If the room is flushed with heat, get a fan to gently cool the area so that your baby will feel comfortable when sleeping.
Look closely at all these points and assess your baby’s sleeping area cautiously. Let your baby sleep safely and pleasantly and you will be able to sleep well without worries too!
A safe baby bedding
Reports have shown that there are more than 6000 babies die of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) each year and out of these cases, more than 900 cases are due to babies sleeping on soft baby nursery bedding. Therefore the question, is your baby bedding safe?
Soft baby nursery bedding can cause an infant to suffocate when the baby is being placed on her belly and her head sinks into the soft mattress. Soft mattresses may be nice for babies to sleep in, however they might not be as safe as one might think.As infants are too feeble, when their heads are being placed on the soft mattress, they might not have the ability to roll over to recover from the dangerous position. Fatal accidents might happen if no one is around to take good care of the little one.
To avoid such accidents, parents can select a baby nursery bedding with a firm mattress that does not get depressed easily when some weight is being applied on it. They can simply experiment it by pressing one hand onto the bedding to determine it’s strength in withstanding the force applied. The stronger the resistance of the mattress, the better it is.
Another item in crib sets that causes suffocation is bumper pad. Bumper pads make the baby nursery bedding look cute and pretty, however, suffocation can happen when infants have their face pressed against the soft and fluffy bumper pads and are unable to free themselves.
Infants are weak and vulnerable during this period, and parents should take extra care and precaution. Some people recommend to buy firmer bumper pads while others just don’t use them at all. The latter being the best method because, though no often, there are also cases of strangulation by the strings of the bumper pads and suffocation when infants are sandwiched between the bumper pads and another object.
Researchers also observed that there are poisonous gases in mattresses which can harm the baby’s health . They discovered that there are chemical compounds containing phosphorous and arsenic which are used as fire retardants, are being included in mattresses which can be very unsafe for children. Once these chemical compounds interact with certain reactants, they release poisonous gases which may be fatal if a baby breathes in a large amount of it when sleeping in the baby nursery bedding.
Researchers later found that a fungus that frequently grows in baby bedding might be one of the substances which can assist to release the poisonous gases. Therefore, they urge parents not to reuse old baby nursery bedding which may contain such fungus after being used for a long period of time. Even though babies sleep in cribs for only a short period of time, parents should buy a new crib set rather than reusing to avoid the existence of such fungus. Furthermore, a new baby nursery bedding will look prettier than an old reused one.
Looking at all these factors, parents should be able to evaluate if they have a safe baby nursery bedding. Otherwise, go get a new one and select one safe bedding so that not only will your child be able to sleep safely, but you will have a good rest every night without worries.
Consumer Products Safety Commission on lead levels in children products
The Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) was formed in the 1970s and for more than 30 years, it has taken the responsibility of safeguarding consumers against the dangers of suffering injuries that results from the use of consumer products. Under the Commission, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) was signed into the United States law to further strengthen the safety measures required in consumer products.
Most recently, through the law, the Commission has planned to substantially reduce children’s exposure to lead. The resultant destruction that lead poisoning causes includes brain damage, kidney problems and even death. Towards the end of the 1970s, the problem was so serious, that millions of children in America had been tested that they had elevated blood lead levels that were deemed unhealthy!
The CPSC noticed the severity of the situation and have decided that any children product that consists more than 600 parts per million (ppm) of lead in any part of an accessible product would be seen as dangerous. Which means that any children’s product from toys to baby nursery bedding which contains more than 600ppm would be dangerous for children under the CPSIA.
The CPSC has also defined that any person at the age of 12 years or younger would be seen as children under the eyes of the law and all goods that were manufactured with the intention of selling mainly to the these group of children will have to comply to it.
This law also applies to all baby nursery bedding, nursery decoration, toys and children’s products that were manufactured before the date of the law that was implemented. The Commission also requires all finished products that were made after 90 days since the creation of the rule to be assessed by an accredited third party. This is to assure that manufacturers comply to the safety rules that the Commission has implemented.
Futhermore, the Commission has shown their determination in making all products non-toxic by planning to reduce the limits to 300ppm in August and further reduce it again in 2011 to a level which is seen reasonable according to the technology available by then. However, with the rapid advancement of technology, all toys and baby nursery bedding might contain only traces of lead and would be extremely safe for use in the near future.
Some considerable areas to note when choosing a baby mattress
When shopping for a baby nursery bedding, many parents do not put too much thoughts into the choosing of mattresses for babies. But there are areas where parents should take note of to make sure the safety and comfort of your precious one.
Many parents commonly buy mattresses off the rack without much thought. When shopping for baby mattresses, different parents look out for different things such as price, comfort and size. But, what is cheap may lack some safety features that may harm your child and what is comfortable for adults may not be so for your child.
Size, should be of primary consideration. When one chooses the size, parents must make sure that the size fits the crib or baby nursery bedding that you already own. Most mattress are made in a standard size these days so that shouldn’t be a headache, but if we were to consider the child’s safety, it is better to make sure that the size fits rather than simply assuming.
When there is too big a gap between the crib and the mattress, your baby’s hand might get caught in the gap, and not knowing better, they may injure themselves as they roll around or result in their feet getting caught when they start to walk.
Parents can make sure that at all edges, there is no more than one finger spacing between the crib and the mattress. This would make sure that there is no extra space that might accidently injure your little one.
Another area is comfort. For adults, a soft and comfortable mattress may be the best for a comfortable night’s rest but for babies, it would be a different story. The mattresses should not be too soft. This is especially important for newborns. Newborns do not have the strength to toss and turn around, and by having a tougher mattress, it allows the baby to turn over easily as compared to a soft mattress. This is important, if your baby is facing down on her belly and if the mattress is too soft, resulting in difficulty in turning over, it may actually end up in serious consequences.
Parents can make sure that the mattress is not too soft by pressing their palm down against the mattress. The greater the resistance the less depression, the safer it would be for the baby. Of course, the mattress shouldn’t be hard as wooden floor or it would be too uncomfortable for your little one.
Last but not least, the price. Many mums and dads find it difficult to decide over the material used. Do not bother too much, be it foam or coil, it is equally well if it follows the above measures.
So choose wisely when selecting the baby nursery bedding for your hild and it will give your precious baby a good rest through the night!!