What You Should Know About Baby Crib Safety

In being the conscientious parent that you are, you do not take this responsibility lightly. These past months have reflected that sacred charge that you have taken. You have abstained from alcohol, given up cigarette smoking, kept all of your prenatal appointments, watched your diet and took those many multivitamins. All of these healthy practices you gladly kept so that your baby would be born healthy and be kept safe. < br />
With the impending blessed event it is now time to think about keeping your baby safe when you bring your baby home. Part of that critical process is to learn about the matter of baby crib safety.

There are many components that surround baby crib safety; some of these components include that of selecting the right crib, providing the right crib accessories and the placement of the crib.

Selecting the Right Crib

The first critical step in regards to the matter of baby crib safety is the selection of the right crib. Many well meaning relatives have cribs stored in their storage unit or garage that were used by their children, and perhaps are offering them to you; although there gestures are deeply appreciated, it is important to understand the dangers of older and used cribs. These dangers include the use of lead paint, inappropriate distances between the crib slats and other dangerous designs that make these cribs hazardous to your child’s safety.

Baby crib safety utilizes a design that takes into account the height of any corner posts found on the baby’s crib. Specifically, corner posts should be the same height as the panels on either end of the crib. Or, another way of determining the safety of the corner posts, is that these posts should be no taller than 1/16 of an inch above the panels at the end of the crib.

Baby crib safety also implements that of a design which will not allow the baby’s head to get trapped outside the parameters of the crib. Therefore, the crib should not be designed with any cutouts, and also, the crib should not have any missing or loose slats. In addition, height and distance dimensions should also be adhered to, and this means that the top edge of the side rails, in their extended position, should be at least 26 inches from the surface of the mattress.

Another important distance is that of the space between the crib slats, as this space should be no greater than 2 3/8 inches.

Baby crib safety also takes into account the development of the [tag-ice]child[/tag-ice]. Once the child is able to stand in the crib, for instance, the crib’s use should be discontinued once the minimum child’s height towers over the rail by three quarters of their height.

Crib Accessories

Also, the condition of the crib should be checked periodically for any splinters, rough edges or other wear and tear that may be harmful to the baby. Baby [tag-tec]crib safety[/tag-tec] should also include that of certain accessories such as teething features. It is also paramount, in order to prevent suffocation, that crib accessories not include huge stuffed animals, pillows, and bags of any kind.

Additionally, bumper pads are an important baby crib safety accessory. These pads, secured, by ties or snaps, should cover the entire lower interior perimeter of the baby’s crib. Also, you should remember to take great care in regards to the matter of removing any of the excess length from the straps that hold the bumper pads in place.
   
Placement of the Crib

As equally important, in providing baby crib safety is the location of the crib once it has met all of the safety features. For instance placing cribs next to windows that are equipped with drapes and blinds may prove to be a possible strangling hazard.