Seriously, with the pace of ever-changing parenting do’s and don’ts, it’s seriously a wonder that my kids made it through their childhoods alive. Did you know that Pediatricians and the American SIDS Institute have issued warnings urging parents to do away with crib bumpers? When my kids were little, you were totally afraid not to have those suckers, for fear they would get caught between the slats and…well, you know.
Apparently, the bumpers have caused a rise in crib deaths and injuries. Babies suffocate in the padding, or get caught in the bumper/ties. The worries of my generation {of kids getting stuck in the slats} is apparently out the window, because crib manufacturers have created cribs with slats that are closer together now.
The issue is big enough that Chicago and Maryland have already banned the sale of bumpers {Maryland has a couple of exceptions}.
So I guess it’s out with the matching crib bedding {on the bright side, that is money saved} and in with nothing but a mattress and tightly fitted sheet. It’s baby rearing minimalism.
Since it has been eons since I have had a baby, or anyone has entrusted me to be in charge of one :), I wondered, do all of YOU with little babies already know this new rule?
~Mavis
Karen says
My daughter is 10 now and they were saying not to use the bumpers when she was a baby.
Mavis says
Well, that just goes to show how LONG I’ve been out of the game.
Marcia says
Yep, my son will be 10 in a couple of months. Same here. We actually got a crib bumper as a gift and never used it. Nothing in that crib but a fitted sheet, and the baby wrapped like a burrito.
My 2nd baby spent a few months in a side car co-sleeper, then into the crib. With him, we ended the burrito wrapping earlier, and used a sleep sack. That was 2012.
So yeah, 2006 and 2012, already knew that.
In fact, between the two kids, they did away with drop side cribs. I loved mine. I gave it away as a “toddler bed” because drop side cribs had been outlawed, and it was also a toddler bed. Then, of course, I got pregnant one month later. Whoops. Let me tell you, bending over without the drop side at age 42? Aye yay yay, glad my boys were on the small side.
Jeanie says
I used baby bumpers with both my kids (24 and 20) and an unsafe antique crib with the older one. Both slept in unsafe Moses baskets, one slept with the cat and both swung on an old antique swingset. The little one had an unsafe platform treehouse about 15 feet up in a tree accessible only by a rickety ladder. I am thankful they lived through it.
Mavis says
Ha! I loved everything about your comment!
Mavis says
My parents tell the same kinds of tales. It’s a miracle we all survived. 🙂
Jeanie says
I’m not claiming it was smart or right. I’m probably just lucky. My kids survived a lot of peril…eating poisonous holly berries in our yard, endless hours of play in a murky creek several blocks from home beginning in kindergarten, miles upon miles riding dirt bikes and go carts on our neighborhood streets at young ages, tumbling over the handle bars of their bikes, lots of BB guns and lawn darts and slingshots. Lots of being drug across the ice (lake was VERY frozen) on tubes behind snow machines. A few animal bites. I was a pretty go with the flow Mom and I am probably fortunate they survived it.
Becky says
Yes I have two little ones 3 and 1 and never purchased any bedding or bumpers. Bumpers were a No No 4 years ago when preparing for my daughter’s arrival. Both my kids sleep on a sheet they are layered up and when they get about 6 months of age I toss a blanket over them (one of the 45 million handmade ones we received as gifts)
Stephanie says
Yup, I already knew about this.
Linda says
Praise God, my boys lived thru the bumper stage, and all the other “unsafe” practices of us in a by-gone era. They played with toy guns, swung on ropes over water, rode bikes off ramps into the pond, ate unhealthy food, etc., etc.
Nan says
They sell these net things that go around the bed so the baby’s foot can’t get stuck LOL- I actually bought my daughter one for my GD LOL. However did you know the drop side crib is passe- nada- no more manufactured? Someone decided they were dangerous.
Lana says
No crib bumpers for our five grandchildren 7 and under. Our kids said to take them out of the crib here at my house. All I could picture was tender little noggins bumping hard wood and sometimes they did wake up with dents in their heads. I would have preferred the bumpers!
Rachel says
Anyone who has little ones should know this. The American Academy of Pediatrics has been promoting this for at least the past 5 years. No bumpers, no pillows, no blankets, no stuffed animals until they are 2 yrs old.
Lauralli says
They actually make this mesh crib “bumper” now that you wind in and out of the slats. Not exactly cute or soft for the noggins. But, I guess it keeps the stray “passy” in the crib at night! But, have you seen what they’ve done to pacifiers–attached a little stuffed animal to the end of them! I don’t understand. They are definitely not conspicuous. Would make it more difficult to lose them now, though.
Ashley says
I just want to say they make these rules for a reason (usually). I know everyone likes to say, ‘well when I was a kid/had kids, we didn’t have that rule and we/they they were all fine.’. Guess what? Not all kids were fine. Some died and some got serious injuries. Same as those who died back in the day because they weren’t buckled in. I mean, back in the day no one wore seatbelts and most people lived. Maybe we should start skipping seatbelts again.
Elizabeth says
I agree 100%! All parents everywhere do the best they can with the knowledge and intuition they have, and we should always be willing to thoughtfully consider new information and question whether there is a better way. “Back in the day” anecdotes suggest that us “new-fangled kids” are upsetting the status-quo without reason. My parents and grandparents did the best they could with what they had, and now it’s my turn to examine old fashioned methods and new recommendations and figure out what will work best for my family. Crib bumpers are associated with sids, and if I can do anything to reduce that risk by even the tiniest percentage I will.
Lisa says
This is my feeling on the subject. For example, my parents let us lay in the back of the car on the floor and I shudder to think of what could’ve happened. Did we survive? Obviously. Would we have if we had been in a wreck at 60+ MPH? It’s likely we wouldn’t have. I much prefer to strap my kids in (as tight as they recommend!) and hopefully never get in a wreck. Even for the just in case. Which is why I won’t use a crib bumper or put anything in my son’s crib until he is old enough either. Now that we have this information. why take that risk? Anyone could take it to the extreme and be an anxious mess about things, but being smart and keeping kids safe is another ball game.
Brianna says
I pick and choose what I want to abide by with the Journal of Pediatrics suggestions. My kids are 6,4, and 1 and with my newest child I shouldn’t do things I did with my first. It changed so much in 5 years! Who knows, they might have your child be in car seats until they can get a drivers license, drink formula or breast milk until kindergarten, not have honey, eggs, or nut butters until after elementary school?
I put my first on his back until he was 5 weeks old and he aspirated on his own spit up, turned blue, and ended up in the NICU from it. Our Dr. was from India and said she sees this all of the time in American infants and it doesn’t happen where she’s from as they sleep on their tummy’s. My child recovered and I have never put my kids on their backs to sleep since. I knew the risks of tummy sleeping and back sleeping, but as a parent you have to choose what is best for your child and make the best informed decision.
butterflyweed says
I also put my kids to sleep on their tummies. I was afraid of just what happened to your baby happening to mine as both were big spit-uppers. I think as long as the bedding is snug and not fluffy, the baby will be fine on the tummy.
On this subject, any one else noticing that young people today have strangely shaped heads from all of that lying on their backs? The back of the head is flattened because of the malleability of the skull of newborns.
Shiana says
Yes! I have a little one and use a mesh “bumper” that does nothing for bumps, but keeps those chubby little legs and arms from getting stuck and ruining my hopes of sleeping through the night. 🙂 I was so terrified of SIDS (because everything can make your baby stop breathing during sleep these days) that I use a monitor that actually sounds an alarm if it detects the baby has stopped breathing…which he has done multiple times. I suppose there are pros and cons to raising little ones in the information age…a side of paranoia but really cool technology.
Leisa Cox says
We haven’t been using bumpers for years, in Australia for that reason.
Leslie says
We knew. Because people like to convince you the worst will happen
Jen Y says
My son slept in the family – which was probably illegal at the time. It’s an iron crib that at least four generations slept in & we all survived baby hood at least. I was hesitant to use it with my son but bought an extra-tall bumper pad for it & he was fine. That was 23 yrs ago. No grandbabies yet but I guess my son will be the last to sleep in that crib.
Mandy says
This was pretty commonly known when my now 13 year old was a baby. When we know better, we do better!
AmyWW says
I lost my first baby to SIDS 29 years ago. I’m SO glad for all the new recommendations to help keep the babies as safe as possible. I know lots of people say “we did such and such, and we were all fine/all survived” but the thing is that not everyone did survive, and it has been a heavy heartache I’ve carried around for all these years. If I had known then that putting my baby to sleep on his back on a firm mattress with no extra bedding would have reduced his risk of dying at age 6 months you bet I would have done it. It may not have helped – he was at an age where he could roll over on his own – but my goodness, who wouldn’t reduce the risk as much as possible? I have had four more children and a happy life and now even have the world’s cutest and most lovable, darling grandchildren. But there is still that sorrowful corner of my heart where the memory of my firstborn child lives.
Laura says
So sorry for your loss, Amy. That experience would definitely leave a hole in my heart as well. Happy to hear that you have gone on to have more children and grandchildren. Certainly makes you stop and think about what is best. Grateful that we continue to investigate the causes of these awful situations to try to prevent them in the future. Thank you for sharing your story.
Mary P says
My daughter informed me before her 3-year-old son was born. All of my kids had crib bumpers, slept on their stomachs and didn’t have car seats after they were 3. Of course, I slept in one of those trecherous wide-slatted cribs, not only had no car seat but also no seat belt, and rode a bicycle on a dirt road with no elbow pads and no helmet! I think caution is all to the good, but it would be really nice if “they” stopped reversing which side a baby is supposed to sleep on!
Emily says
I remember learning the dozens and dozens of “new” rules when my now 12 and 9 year old were born. My Moms were incredulous at how many things had changed since they had me and my husband! Every once in a while someone will remind me of one of the “new rules” and I think I’d better not have any more kids because I’ve forgotten most of the rules already!
Mavis says
Sometimes the rules can be so overwhelming!! There are certainly days I’m glad my kids were born when they were with fewer rules for me to worry about screwing up!