Is Your Infant Bedding Dangerous?
Posted by Babies - 28/05/09 at 04:05 pmSudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) claims the lives of over 6000 babies yearly, with more than 900 of these deaths caused by soft baby bedding. That brings to mind the question, is your baby bedding safe?
When you place the baby on her belly, her head may sink into the mattress and cause suffocation if the bedding is too soft. Despite being comfortable for babies, soft mattresses may be dangerous for little ones. 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.
Parents can prevent suffocation by ensuring that their baby has a firm mattress to sleep on. 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. The more resistance a mattress demonstrates, the better the mattress.
The crib is where babies should be safe, but too many times parents do not realize the danger they are in when they are in their cribs. Bumper pads are carelessly added in the crib without thinking that they may suffocate a baby if it will totally cover a baby’s face.
Parents should have care and precaution because infants are vulnerable and weak during this period. 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.
In addition, recent research has revealed that there are toxic gases in mattresses that can be detrimental to your baby’s development. Some researchers have found that phosphorus and arsenic which are generally used as fire retardants, are added to mattresses which can be very harmful. Poisonous, lethal gases are released once these chemical compounds interact with reactants. Baby naturally breathes in a large amount of it during sleep, and this can be fatal.
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. Do note use nursery bedding which may contain fungus. This may happen if the bedding has been used for a long time. Because infants only sleep in cribs for a short period of time, parents may be tempted to reuse old bedding. However, to avoid the existence of such fungus, this should not be the case. Besides, new baby nursery bedding will be prettier and more personalized than an old, reused one anyway.
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 Trend Lab’s Maya crib bedding), 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. If not, purchase a new, safe bedding option so that your baby can sleep safely and you can sleep without worries.
