Friday, March 18, 2011

Are Bumper Pads Bad?

Bumper pads come in almost every nursery bedding set.

I happened to get a Lambs and Ivy, Froggy Tales set when I was pregnant with my first almost 6 years ago. It was cute! I liked that it could be used for a boy or girl. I knew that if I had a girl, I'd add flowers to the room. My Mother-in-law worked at a baby store, so she got a great deal on the set!

Here's the kicker: I didn't use most of the stuff for what it was supposed to be used for. The quit was a wall hung piece over the changing table. Two sections of the bumper pad were taken apart, and also were wall hangings. The ties for the bumper pad were removed and sewn into each wall hangings, so that they could be hung by them. The room looked cute! I had no worries of my babies getting suffocated.



Health agencies and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) awareness groups are now recommending that parents skip the crib bumper and quilt, saying the need for crib bedding has passed and that using these products may actually put children at greater risk for suffocation or SIDS.

There are many companies that make sleep sacks. They can't suffocate in them, and your little baby is kept warm. The hospital where I had Mica gave a sleep sack away {I'm sure we were somehow billed for it}, but it's what we got. This is what was recommended to me when I had my boy's: 


Bumper pads were once used because people thought they reduced the risk of SIDS. Crib slots used to be wider apart. There was a chance that babies body parts could get stuck between crib slots. The safety of cribs has really come a long way! The slots are now closer together.

Why are bumper pads and baby quilts still sold? I often ask myself the same question. I'm not sure why. People buy them because they are cute. They make the nursery a nursery.

To read more about this topic go here.

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