Reports have shown that there are more than 6000 babies die of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) each year and out of these cases, more than 900 cases are due to babies sleeping on soft baby nursery bedding. Therefore, is your baby bedding safe?
Soft baby nursery bedding can cause an infant to suffocate when the baby is being placed on her belly and her head sinks into the soft mattress. Soft mattresses are comfortable for babies, but on the other hand, they might be dangerous too.As infants are too feeble, when their heads are being laid onto a soft mattress, they might not have the strength to roll over to recover from the dangerous position. Disastrous accidents might occur if no one is around to take good care of the little one.
To avoid such accidents, parents can select a baby nursery bedding with a firm mattress that does not get depressed easily when some weight is being applied on it. Parents can simply experiment it by pressing one hand against the mattress to assess it’s strength in resisting the force applied. The harder it is to press down on the bedding, the better it is.
The fulffy bumper pads that are added to the crib can also cause suffocation. Bumper pads make the baby nursery bedding look cute and pretty, however, suffocation can happen when infants have their face pressed against the soft and fluffy bumper pads and are unable to free themselves.
Babies are naturally weak and vulnerable during this period, and parents should be more careful when it comes the safety of your child. Some people suggest to buy firmer bumper pads while others just remove all of them from the crib. The latter being the best method because, though rare, there are also incidents of strangulation by the long strings of the bumper pads and suffocation when infants are sandwiched between the bumper pads and another object.
Researchers also found that there are toxic gases in beddings which can damage an infant’s health . Scientists found that there are chemical compounds that consists of phosphorous and arsenic which are commonly used as fire retardants, are being included in mattresses which can be very unsafe for children. Once these chemical compounds interact with certain reactants, they release poisonous gases which may be fatal if a baby breathes in a large amount of it when sleeping in the baby nursery bedding.
Researchers later discovered that a fungus that frequently grows in baby bedding might be one of the reactants which can help to release the poisonous gases. Therefore, they urge parents not to reuse old baby nursery bedding which may contain such fungus after being used for a long period of time. Although, infants sleep in cribs for a couple of months or longer only, parents should buy a new crib set rather than reusing to avoid the existence of such fungus. Furthermore, a new baby nursery bedding will look prettier than an old reused one.
Looking at all these factors, parents should be able to evaluate if they have a safe baby nursery bedding. If not, go get a new one and select one safe bedding so that not only will your baby be able to sleep safe and sound, but you will also be able to rest at ease throughout the night.