Poor Bumper Pads

As many people know, bumper pads are not recommended. The main reason is that they are thought to increase the risk of SIDS. They can also lead to entanglement, entrapment, strangulation, and suffocation. Historically bumper pads were used because the slats on cribs were wide enough for infants to stick their heads through. Crib design standards have changed dramatically since then, but the traditional bumper pads have stuck around.

Clearly the risks of bumper pads outweigh the benefits and, therefore, I do not have bumper pads in my daughter's crib even though her bedding set did come with them. The biggest problem I am currently having due to the absence of bumper pads, however, is my daughter very regularly sticks her arms and legs through the slats and gets stuck. She is still too young to be able to get out on her own so she screams until we come and rescue her. I can't tell you how scary it is to be woken in the night by a baby who is screaming because there is genuinely something wrong! My heart practically leaps out of my chest and one of these days I am going to seriously injure myself dashing to her room in the dark!

Health Canada reports that "serious injury is not likely when a child puts his or her arms and legs through the crib slats. The baby will either remove their arm or leg from the slats if possible, or make enough noise to alert a parent for help."

This is good to know, but does nothing to solve the problem. Apparently there are new mesh bumper pads on the market that are much safer. They are not nearly as nice looking, but they are safe. Had I known this arm/leg getting stuck thing was going to be an issue and of the existence of such a product, I may have considered purchasing mesh bumper pads in the first place. If you are in the process of setting up a nursery, this might be something to consider.

By the way, I am still searching for a creative way to make use of the bumper pads that came with my daughter's bedding. One cute idea that I came across was to cut the sections apart and sew them together into a soft book. I might give this a try and I will post pictures if it is a success.