Is Your Baby Crib Bedding Set Perilous?
Reports say that at least 15 % of the over 6000 deaths due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) are caused by infants sleeping on soft nursery bedding. That brings to mind the question, is your baby bedding safe?
Suffocation can occur with the use of soft baby bedding, particularly when baby is on her belly and her head depresses the mattress. Plush mattresses provide maximum comfort for babies but are a safety threat as well. They might not have the strength to roll over to recover from the dangerous position and the fatal accidents might happen if no one is around to take good care of the little one and as infants are too weak, when their heads are being placed on the soft mattress.
To avoid accidents and fatalities, it is best to choose crib bedding and mattresses which are firm and not easily depressed under weight, even the light weight of a baby. By applying force to a certain mattress one can actually feel it resisting the weight and it’s actually one way of discovering the mattress strength. resistance of the mattress is directly proportional to its goodness.
Bumper pads in baby cribs pose a threat of suffocation. There is no doubt that the colors and designs are attractive but many recommend removing them from the crib as an infant who falls asleep with their tiny mouth up against the padding will have their movement and breathing restricted and can potentially suffocate.
Parents should take extra care for infants, as during this time infants are very weak. Buy firm bumper pads because there are rare cases of strangulation from bumper pads that have strings, or suffocation from bumper pads that yield to heavier objects.
Research has shown that toxic gases, harmful to baby, are found in mattresses. Dangerous chemicals have been found to be added to mattresses as fire retardants, but they are dangerous chemical compounds containing phosphorus and arsenic. These chemicals can react with others and release poisonous gases; if an infant breathes too much of these, he can die while sleeping in his crib.
It’s ironic but the fungus sometimes found in a baby’s bedding, that we thought is harmful, is actually the one helping to release poisonous gases according to some findings. Parents are thus urged not to use old nursery and crib bedding which has been used before, as it may contain fungus after a long period of time. To avoid fungus, parents should not reuse bedding in an infants crib, even though infants only sleep on it for a short period of time. Instead, parents should buy new bedding. Old reused bedding will look less pretty than a new baby nursery bedding.
In addition, there is some concern about synthetic fabric in baby bedding sets. While there is no solid proof that synthetic fabrics are harmful to a baby, you may want to stick to natural fibers. There are plenty of stylish cotton baby bedding sets available (one of my favorites is the Maya baby bedding by Trend Lab), so there is no need to sacrifice style for safety.
Parents should be able to guage the safety of their baby’s bedding if they consider all these factors. One should immediately get a safe mattress bedding, so as to sleep without tension for the baby whole night. Also , the baby can sleep well.