I know, they’re adorable. Crib bumpers make the bedding set. They’re cute, pretty, decorative, fun, soft and comfy…. except that they’re not. They’re dangerous. Believe me, I know how much it sucks to admit that–you want to love them, you want to find the perfect set, you want your baby’s nursery to look perfect!
But at what cost?
There was an article on CNN (posted Oct 18 2011) about the new crib bumper guidelines released by the American Academy of Pediatrics. And…
According to the AAP, there is no evidence that crib bumpers protect against injury, but they do carry a potential risk of suffocation, strangulation, or entrapment because infants lack the motor skills or strength to turn their heads should they roll into something that obstructs their breathing.
Okay, apart from being cute, parents like to use crib bumpers to protect their itty bitty baby from two things: hitting their head on the crib bars and keeping the baby’s arms and legs (or even head) from going through the bars and getting stuck or broken.
But that’s old school. That’s from back in the day when the distance between crib bars wasn’t regulated and a baby COULD actually fit body parts through them and get stuck and hurt. Now, crib bars have to be a certain distance apart for the purpose of preventing that problem. Which means, crib bumpers aren’t needed.
Not only are they not needed, they’re not safe. If a baby rolls or moves to the edge of the crib and they don’t yet have the muscle control to lift their heads or move out of the way, they can suffocate against the crib bumper.
In 2005, AAP’s last statement about crib bumpers was that they recommended using thin, firm bumpers instead of “pillowlike” ones. But since then, there have been published studies on crib bumpers, highlighting their risks and finding no benefits.
Since the AAP released its landmark guidelines in 1992 that all babies be placed on their backs to sleep, deaths from SIDS dramatically decreased initially, but have plateaued in recent years. At the same time, sleep-related deaths from other causes, including suffocation, entrapment and asphyxia, have increased.
It’s crazy to me that bedding sets are all sold with crib bumpers… you’re paying for something you can’t use AND it makes it more tempting to just use them, since you paid for it (and they’re cute). Ryan has a set with bumpers and so does this new baby girl. I have used them for decorative purposes or pictures, but not when the baby is actually sleeping in the crib. Ryan’s stayed on his crib a loooong time because we were co-sleeping and he never actually used his crib, haha.
I’m glad the AAP has now come out with this updated statement on crib bumpers because they may be a source more people pay attention to–and I don’t just mean parents, but companies and retailers.
JUST SAY NO! 🙂
Do you use bumpers? If you used to, but stopped, was it a tough decision? What’d you do with your old bumpers?
I used them when I first had my son because they came with the set, but I quickly realized they were more of a pain than they were protective. You’d think that it would be for cushioning against the bars, but I didn’t like when my Little Man would hang his leg or arm over it. It was obvious he was going to get caught up in them so I just removed them and put them in storage. I’m glad the AAP is finally recognizing what I saw immediately after having a baby. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
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babydickey Reply:
October 23rd, 2011 at 1:44 pm
That’s a great point too that I failed to mention! Babies getting caught and tangled in the crib bumper itself or I’ve even heard of strangulation on the crib bumper ties.
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Sadly enough my 18 month old has often managed to get her legs through the bars turned and stuck. I seriously debated putting the crib bumper back in, but I didin’t. They have these new breathable mesh bumpers I’m really looking into for our next baby though
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babydickey Reply:
October 23rd, 2011 at 2:23 pm
My first thought was to make sure your crib was never recalled–especially if it’s the original you’ve had since your baby was born 18+ months ago–even with the regulations, some cribs are out there with bars too far apart. But my second thought was that toddlers are crazy! Haha. And besides, at 18 months, they can sleep in the crib with blankets, stuffed animals, etc so I’d imagine bumpers by their age would be okay too–they have the awareness and muscle control to move out of the way.
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Adelina Priddis Reply:
October 23rd, 2011 at 3:00 pm
Totally true! toddlers are crazy, this one of mine though has been especially wiggly. We’ve actually had the crib for 5years!! But so far no recalls that I’ve been able to find on it.
Have you seen the mesh bumpers? I’m kind of curious what the AAP has to say about them.
The reason I didn’t put the bumpers in the crib again was because with how wiggly she was I knew they’d be just another thing for her to tangle up in, instead of just the solid bars.
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babydickey Reply:
October 23rd, 2011 at 3:12 pm
Yea, the AAP’s stance is now just NO bumpers at all, even the alternative kinds like the mesh ones. They just don’t see any benefit to using them so their opinion is “just don’t use any.” They also have “bumpers” that wrap around each individual bar too – http://www.gomamagodesigns.com/wonder-bumpers
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Adelina Priddis Reply:
October 23rd, 2011 at 3:38 pm
oh those are interesting, but wouldn’t take care of my problem, lol.
Thanks for all the info!!
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If you look, a lot of sets now come bumperless! In my case, we didn’t bother with the crib blanket either because we knew it wouldn’t be used so I found a set that came as separates. We ended up with a Sweet Kyla set. Do you know how hard it is to find a set that has a cute crib skirt? Most of them have all the cuteness in the blanket, which you don’t use anyway.
We never bothered with any sort of bumpers and she’s never actually gotten herself stuck.
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babydickey Reply:
October 23rd, 2011 at 2:21 pm
Yep, the blankets are useless too! And I knowwww, cute crib skirts are so hard to find and when you find them they are so expensive!! Now I have to go check out Sweet Kyla 🙂
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Stacy Reply:
October 23rd, 2011 at 2:31 pm
We have their Spring Fever bedding. I was all set to get Bloomers, then fell in love with the birds 🙂
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I actually never even bought a bedding set. I didn’t think there was anything in there that was completely needed and I had heard bumpers were a bad idea. I do have a friend that was due yesterday (come on baby!) and I just text her about this. I don’t understand why they come with bedding sets anyway. They’ve known for a while they weren’t good, they are just making it official now. And new mothers, or old doesn’t matter, simply don’t know that they can even cause death. It’s not a lack of research, it’s a lack of readily available information – if someone hadn’t told me, I never would have known. I mean, they come in many bedding packages so I can see why people want to use them and think they are good. Thanks for sharing this! Glad you’re passing along the info!
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My daughter, Kamdyn had a crib bumper in her bed until last week, although she slept in a bassinet in my room until well after she turned 1. She’s been in her crib with a bumper for a few months now with no problem, but I was awakened from a nightmare one night last week. The nightmare was basically me walking in to her room to find her blue, because she had suffocated in the bumper. She was fine, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep with the bumper in there. She’s 18 months old, but since she has low muscle tone, because she has Down syndrome, I worried that she may not be able to get herself out if she did get stuck. I was very sad to take it out, because it is so cute. I got it at a consignment shop for $3 so that made me feel better about it, but it is still cute. My friend said that our state is getting ready to make it illegal to sell them. Not sure if that’s true or not.
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I stopped. I then tied it on the top of his crib rails. When Dustyn was a baby I did that and it prevented him from biting the crib and from hurting himself when jumping in his crib. ha ha!
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I don’t have children of my own yet so I can’t comment on that aspect, but I work in a NICU that regularly has babies between 23 weeks gestation up to 6 months+ if they are chronics. We have many babies in cribs with railings and none of them have crib bumpers or anything fancy in their beds…and they are just fine without them! I know they kind of make the crib, but I don’t see how the need for cute could possibly override a parent’s desire for their child’s safety.
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I am first time mama, and I am sure I will get a lot of hate but I asked family and friends if they used Bumper Pads with their children, and it was split. Some said yes, others said no. My fiance and myself talked long and hard, and we decided to use them. My son didn’t sleep in his crib until he was roughly 4 months old so it wasn’t that big of a deal, because he had the strength to move away if he rolled by the time he actually slept in his crib. They are still there. & I have no urge to take them out.
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babydickey Reply:
November 7th, 2011 at 4:01 pm
Yea I’d say that’s how my friends are too – half use them, half don’t. And once babies have the muscle and head control to move out of the way, I think it’s okay.
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I pushed the bumper all the way down even with the mattress. So, I still had the decorative aspect of it, but it was not sticking up at all to be a danger.
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babydickey Reply:
November 7th, 2011 at 4:00 pm
Oh that’s a great idea! and cute!
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ugh ugh ugh i’m a terrible no good very bad mom! we tried not to use a bumper.. and when LO was swaddled as an infant (we tried co-sleeping, failed. we tried bassinets, failed. i promise, we tried.) we didn’t have one but then when she turned about 12 months she would scream bloody murder in her crib b/c she would try to lay against the bars and it hurt.. so i tried the bumper and boom. goes straight to bed every night curled up in the corner *sigh* now at 18 months we tried taking it out again and screeeaaaammmms rocked the house. put it back. boom. dreamland. i promise i will be better with the next one!!!!
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babydickey Reply:
November 7th, 2011 at 4:00 pm
ohhh, you’re not a bad mom! the issue is really only with infants that aren’t yet strong enough to lift their head and move out of the way… by age 1?! fine! Ryan will be 2 in December and I have the one bumper along the back of his toddler bed on.
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Thanks for this info, this is important to the safety of every baby.
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I am a strong advocate of the Wonder Bumpers. They cover the safety aspects of crib. I would not go for the option of no bumpers at all. I feel that an injury would have a strong possibility of happening. Wonder Bumpers are soft, don’t provide the room for the infants limb to get caught, and attach to the crib bar so there is no such thing as possible entanglement. They also help your child sleep better due to the noise barrier and increased oxygen that can still be passed through the bars. My daughter slept through the night in her crib at 4 weeks old, I am sure the Wonder Bumpers had a lot to do with it.
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