Currently browsing safe sleep posts

BreathableBaby Mesh Crib Liners: For Baby’s Safety AND Comfort

For more than ten years, parenting experts, child product safety organizations, and new parents have been talking about the potential safety hazards of using traditional crib bumpers inside infants’ cribs despite the benefits of preventing head, arm and leg injuries.

We are Dale and Susan Waters, married entrepreneurs from Minnesota who turned fear for our baby’s safety inside her crib into a mission to create something that would not only help protect babies but also provide peace of mind for parents. We invented the Breathable Mesh Crib Liner; a product designed to reduce the risks of suffocation caused by traditional bumpers, while protecting a baby’s limbs from becoming entrapped in the crib slats.

BreathableBaby is Born

12 years ago, we woke to the sound of our 3-month-old daughter screaming in agony from her crib. Our daughter, Sierra had gotten her legs twisted and wedged between the slats of her crib. Her face was pinned against the mattress.

There were many sleepless nights for us and our daughter – no matter what we tried she kept getting her little arms and legs caught between the crib slats. In addition to the obvious pain of being stuck, we feared she would break an arm or leg, or develop neuropathy. But we refused to use a soft, pillowy crib bumper for fear of suffocation.

Research shows that a baby can snuggle up right against their crib bumper. If the baby’s nose and mouth are too close to the bumper, it can potentially cause dangerous re-breathing of carbon dioxide or suffocation. A baby can also get wedged between crib slats and the mattress, unable to escape and possibly suffocate. Because the safety and potential dangers of crib bumpers has been in the news recently, many parents are unsure about how to keep their babies comfortable and safe.

As parents, we were frustrated and upset to learn there was no practical solution available in the marketplace. As designers and entrepreneurs we decided we had to do something about it and devoted ourselves to developing a safer, “breathable” solution – preferably one that was affordable and easy to use. So, we took a break from the media, marketing and music company we owned, and focused on creating a safer solution for babies.

We researched and sourced fabrics, designed and engineered prototypes, held focus groups with mothers and sought extensive third party safety evaluations by a world-leader in safety consultation before finally introducing a safer, smarter mesh crib bumper to the market three years later in 2002.

What makes BreathableBaby mesh crib liners so much safer is our Air Channel Technology™ (A.C.T.) designed to prevent suffocation. A.C.T. maintains air access should a baby’s mouth and nose press up against the fabric. When the BreathableBaby fabric is compressed it is virtually impossible to form an airtight seal.

Since its launch, we’re proud to say that the BreathableBaby™ brand has forged a new category in “breathable” bedding, and is embraced by parents worldwide. Our products have won numerous awards including The Child Safety House Calls Award of Excellence, and National Parenting Center Seal of Approval for innovation, functionality, design and contribution to creating a safer, healthier crib environment.

It’s imperative that parents are aware of the potential dangers that may be part of a baby’s sleep environment. New information is available all the time, so we urge all expectant parents – first time or otherwise – to seek relevant news, alerts, studies and guidelines from news and safety organizations such as the ones listed in our Healthful Hints below.

Wishing you and your little one sweet dreams.

HEALTHFUL HINTS:

Six Steps to a Safe Sleep Environment For Your Baby

Crib Mattress Should be Firm. A soft mattress may increase suffocation risks. Select a firm mattress that fits the crib tightly and a fitted sheet. You should have a fitted not be able to fit more than two fingers between the mattress and the crib side. Before purchasing a crib, visit www.cpsc.gov to make sure the crib you selected has not been recalled.
No Blankets for Baby. Do not place anything in baby’s crib that could be a suffocation hazard, including blankets. If you’re worried about keeping your baby warm, a better solution is an infant sleeper or wearable blanket that zips around your baby and can’t ride up over her face.
Breathable Mesh Crib Liners. Crib bumpers that are plush, pillowy, and made of non-breathable fabric can increase the risk of suffocation. A safer crib option is one that is mesh or breathable and allows for air flow – even when pressed against a baby’s mouth.
De-Clutter the Crib. For most parents, all those cute stuffed animals and soft blankets might seem a natural fit for the crib, but unfortunately they all pose suffocation risks. Toys and stuffed animals are best saved for interactive play time.
A bottle. Parents of older infants who have started holding their own bottles may be tempted to slip a bottle into the crib in case their baby wakes at night. But even a bottle can pose a suffocation risk. Plus, babies who fall asleep with a bottle in their mouths are prone to tooth decay from the milk sugars that sit on their teeth all night.
Pacifiers. Some studies have shown that giving your baby a clean, dry pacifier reduces SIDS rates.

Resources For More Information On Safe Sleep and Crib Safety

Keeping Babies Safe www.keepingbabiessafe.org
American Academy of Pediatrics www.healthychildren.org
First Candle www.firstcandle.org
Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association https://www.jpma.org/page/bsm_safety_tips

***************************************************************************************************************

Editor’s Note: So often with health and safety issues we have to make trade-offs between one risk and another: take a medicine to address a disease, but deal with the side-effects; exercise for health benefits but risk injuries. In the case of babies and cribs, parents have long had to make a trade-off between keeping babies safe from suffocation due to crib bumpers and protecting them from entanglement and injury in the crib slats. BreathableBaby mesh crib liners help parents address both these issues with peace of mind. We first ran this BreathableBaby post in 2011 and the company has continued to thrive, with additional products and awards to their credit.

October 3, 2022 | Filed Under Innovations, Novel Ideas | Leave a Comment

How to Recognize If Your Child Has An Airway Problem

Have you noticed any unnatural or worrisome behavior in your child’s sleeping patterns? For example, does your child snore, even as an infant? Does your child gasp for air, appear to choke, or thrash around in his or her sleep? If so, you may want to have your child’s airway development evaluated.

We all know proper breathing habits are essential to our children’s health, development, and intellectual success. Early detection and correction of airway problems is critical to their overall quality of life. Children who cannot adequately breathe through their noses tend to breathe through their mouths. Constant mouth breathing is not only unhealthy, but also tends to affect the growth of facial features.

Even if your child has never had any respiratory issues, his or her ability to easily and efficiently breathe depends on more than lung functionality. Even if your child’s lungs are functioning properly, any obstructions or constrictions of the airway over a significant amount of time can lead to unhealthy breathing habits and anatomical pathologies. As your child grows, a restricted airway increases his or her chances of asthma, allergies, and chronic sinus and throat infections.

Don’t forget – the tongue is the strongest muscle in our body! The more your child’s tongue sits in the lower jaw, the more pressure exerted. This leads to severely compromised nasal breathing, causing the upper jaw and midface to develop at a slower rate, because the natural growth stimulant of air flow through the nasal passages is absent. The deficiency of growth in our upper jaws and midface affects our facial balance, beauty and function. A poorly-developed upper jaw means less support for the eye sockets and nasal airways, leading to a deviated septum, asymmetrical nose, snoring, and sleep apnea.

By examining, diagnosing and treating your child’s airway development at an early age, you can:

Remove dangerous factors influencing your child’s growth
Ensure proper growth in your child’s development
Assist in the psychological well-being of your child
Save your child from a potential jaw surgery in adulthood
Prevent crowding and crooked teeth in your child’s smile

To determine which course of treatment would be the most beneficial to your child, reach out to your pediatrician, dentist, orthodontist, or sleep specialist.

July 31, 2017 | Filed Under Community | Leave a Comment

Video: How to Introduce Your Child to Sleeping in a Bed

In this brief video, NHS Health Visitor, Sara, discusses how to approach moving your young child from a cot (*crib) to a bed and gives some tips for success.

Editor’s Note: Video Highlights

There are no hard-and-fast rules for when to move your baby from a cot (*crib) to a bed – do it when it feels comfortable for your child and for you
From 18 months, you might find that your child is too big for a cot or is trying to climb out – that’s the time to move them into a bed
For some children, moving from a cot to a bed is really exciting and they accept it really well
For other children, they might feel a bit stressed about the change – so you might need to choose a calm time in their life
- Challenging times for moving from a cot to a bed can be if you’re moving house, if you’ve gone back to work or if your child is not feeling well
You may need to move your child to a bed if you have another baby on the way – if so, do it about six to eight weeks before your new baby is born, to help keep your child from being unsettled with too much change
Once sleeping in a bed, your child might get up in the night and wander around, so be sure to childproof their room
- Put a stair gate across the door
- Check their room for any electrical appliances or wires they could trip over, any small toys or objects they can get hold of or any cord blinds that they could get tangled in
- You might also want to put barrier next to the bed or put cushions on the floor in case they fall out
If your child doesn’t like the bed initially and they want to protest, just stay calm, reassure them, give them a cuddle, but put them back in the bed
- You might find that you have to do it a few times, but if you’re consistent, they’ll soon get used to being in the bed
When your child has slept in the bed, or had some naps in the bed, praise them because it can make a big difference to their confidence and they’ll feel much more willing to sleep in the bed if you praise them for what they’ve done

Editor’s Note: *clarification provided for our US readers.

From www.nhs.uk

May 15, 2017 | Filed Under Community | Leave a Comment

Pediatrics Academy Issues Updated Infant Safe Sleep Guidelines

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) held their annual conference this week in San Francisco, and has used this event as a platform for announcing new or updated policy guidelines in a number of areas. One we reported on earlier this week was about New Guidelines on Children’s Exposure to Digital Media.

We report here on another set of updated guidelines – this time focused on safe sleep environments for infants.

The Problem

More than 3500 infants die each year in the US from sleep-related deaths. This number includes cases of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), plus other sleep-related deaths like accidental strangulation in bed. The rate of infant sleep-related deaths had been dropping up to the 1990s – but little change has been seen in recent years. The issues behind these deaths can all be addressed by similar improvements to enhance the safety of a baby’s sleep environment.

Overview of the Guidelines

Several of the elements outlined in the updated policy are not new, though nonetheless very important. The AAP has long been recommending that babies be put to sleep on their backs (supine position) – and that soft bedding be avoided. They also emphasize the importance of breastfeeding and avoiding smoking and drug use while pregnant – and exposure to smoke/drug use after birth. While most people are likely aware of the risks to babies from exposure to these toxins, not all may know that smoking and drug-use environments are associated with increased infant sleep-death risk, including SIDS. Details of all the guidelines are listed in the box at the end of this article.

What is particularly new and notable in these guidelines is the recommendation for babies to sleep in their parents’ room for up to the first year after birth – especially for the first 6 months when 90% of SIDS cases occur. Research suggests that infant sleep-related deaths could be reduced by 50% through “room-sharing” – as long as the baby is sleeping in their own safety-approved crib or bassinet and not in the parental bed.

“Couches and armchairs are extremely dangerous places for infants.” – AAP Guidelines

The authors of the new guidelines note that “bed-sharing” greatly increases risk for SIDS and other sleep-related infant deaths – and are “especially dangerous” in the following cases:

When one or both parents are smokers, even if they are not smoking in bed
When the mother smoked during pregnancy
When the infant is younger than 4 months of age
When the infant is born preterm and/or with low birth weight
When the infant is bed-sharing on excessively soft or small surfaces, such as waterbeds, sofas, and armchairs
When soft bedding accessories such as pillows or blankets are used
When there are multiple bed-sharers
When the parent has consumed alcohol and/or illicit or sedating drugs
When the infant is bed-sharing with someone who is not a parent

“Skin-to-skin care is recommended for all mothers and newborns immediately following birth” – AAP Guidelines

The updated guidelines FOR PARENTS from the AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS on safe sleep environments for infants are:

Back to sleep for every sleep. Babies should be put to sleep on their backs on a surface that meets the Consumer Product Safety Commision (CPSC) should be used. These include cribs, bassinets, portable cribs or play yards. Once babies are able to roll into different positions they can be allowed to sleep in those positions.

Use a firm sleep surface with NO soft objects or loose bedding. Infant beds should have firm mattresses and tight fitting sheets – and nothing else – including no crib bumpers.

Breastfeeding is recommended. Breastfeeding reduces the risk of SIDS and the more that a mother exclusively breastfeeds, the greater the reduction in risk. But the authors note that “any breastfeeding is more protective against SIDS than no breastfeeding”.

Room-sharing with the infant on a separate sleep surface is recommended. Having the baby sleep in its own crib or bassinet is best, but bedside sleepers that are CPSC-approved can be used. No safety guidelines have been developed for in-bed sleepers and there is currently no evidence regarding their ability to reduce SIDS risk – so these are not recommended.

Avoid overheating and head covering in infants. AAP does not provide specific room temperature guidance, but states that babies should wear only one more layer than an adult would to be comfortable in the room.

Consider offering a pacifier at nap time and bedtime. Although experts do not yet know why, use of pacifiers has been shown in multiple studies to guard against SIDS. The pacifier should be used when laying the baby down to sleep. It does not need to be put back in the mouth if it falls out while the child is asleep.

Avoid smoke exposure and alcohol/illicit drug use during pregnancy and after birth. Prenatal and environmental smoking exposure are major risk factors for SIDS.

Prenatal care and immunization of infants is important. Both prenatal care and infant immunization have been shown to have a protective effect against SIDS.

Do not use home cardiorespiratory monitors as a strategy to reduce the risk of SIDS. There is no evidence these reduce risk of sleep-related death.

The Academy has also recommended against use of products marketed to reduce risk of SIDS – such as wedges and positioning devices. These are not CPSC-approved and do not have scientific evidence to support their claims, and may actually pose hazards. They also caution against swaddling. However, the authors do support daily tummy time for babies to promote development.

Finally, AAP has also provided guidelines for health care providers (including in NICUs, nurseries, and childcare centers), public health officials, and manufacturers. These can be found on the AAP website.

October 27, 2016 | Filed Under Awareness | Leave a Comment

An Unexpected Danger for Baby’s Hearing

How often do you think about the impact on your hearing from listening to music on your iPod, maybe a little too loudly? Do you wear hearing protection when mowing the lawn? What about hearing protection for your baby or child? When is that needed?

Certainly that was a concern for me and my husband when we started taking our son to a local air show when he was a toddler. The sounds of the jets were unbearable at times – even for me. And Elliott certainly let us know it was an issue for him, so we got big over-ear protectors that made a real difference.

So, if a sound is loud enough to harm our child’s hearing, we will know, right? The baby will cry. The toddler will cover his ears.

Well, not so, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Toronto. A review of popular baby sleep machines – such as the Graco Sweet Slumber Sound Machine and Baby Einstein’s Sea Dream Soother – found that, set on maximum volume, all of these machines exceeded recommended decibel levels for hospital nurseries – and a few exceeded workplace safe hearing limits for adults. You can read more about the findings of the study in this New York Times article.

The authors point out that these machines, which emit white noise or nature sounds to soothe babies to sleep, can mostly likely be used safely by keeping the machine at a lower volume and away from the baby, and also limiting the duration of use. But the thing that is so concerning is how widespread the recommendations to use these machines have become, without a proper understanding of their potential impact. We certainly used something like this – and never dreamed it could have negative effects on our son. These findings should also raise the question for all parents about other potentially damaging noises for babies. One example that comes to mind is the sound level of music at a church I’ve been to on occasion. The music was so loud that it actually hurt my ears. Although babies in the congregation were napping or playing – clearly this isn’t an all-clear signal that the noise level is safe.

The article also got me thinking about hearing protection as children age. One of the most common concerns is with tweens and teens and loud music – particularly when using ear buds. But there are other concerns as well, like loud sporting events and power tools at home. Some great advice on these and other hearing concerns for kids can be found at It’s a Noisy Planet, a program of the National Institutes of Health. And you can click here to download a brief Noisy Planet tip sheet, Sound Advice on Hearing Protection for Young Ears.

March 14, 2014 | Filed Under Awareness | 3 Comments

easidream

Editor’s Note: we first ran this post in July of 2009 not long after easidream’s creation. It will officially be available to purchase this summer so we thought we’d take this opportunity to share it with you again.

***********************************************************************************************************************

Hello, I’m Lynda, mum to six lovable and lively children and inventor of easidream®

When my sixth child, Bradley was born, he cried constantly and it was a nightly struggle to settle him to sleep…a struggle that went on until he was two and a half years old! I tried everything to soothe him off to sleep, but I discovered that the most reliable way was to lean over the cot sides and create a ‘rocking cot’ motion by moving the mattress up and down. Having scoured shops and the internet for any product that would replicate this movement (and relieve my backache!), I realised that there was nothing suitable out there, so I went on to take the ‘massive step’ of developing a product of my own – easidream® crib

For the next few years I researched the problem as deeply as possible, canvassing valuable input from sleep experts, university departments and medical professionals like midwives, child psychologists and paediatricians. I also consulted with the baby care industry and product design teams and, of course, surveyed many parents with young babies. At last, after a 7-year gestation easidream® was born!

The finished product has been meticulously designed and researched. I considered it was essential for easidream® to undergo proper scientific trials to validate its efficiency… it was no good just me saying it worked, I needed to be 100% sure that it did! I embarked on a year long period of research in conjunction with University of Brighton medical experts, which involved testing both the moving platform and the soothing sounds on a wide selection of babies. These studies not only revealed just how effective easidream® was at promoting healthy sleep patterns, but also showed that it encourages parents to adopt safe sleep practices.

The findings revealed:

Average crying time on easidream® was reduced from 18 minutes to less than 1 minute
All of the babies that took part in the trials remained happily settled on their backs; great news in respect of SIDS
Time to settle to sleep in some cases was reduced by up to 95%

We all know that when a new baby arrives, uninterrupted sleep is rare and we have to adapt to shorter, broken nights and savour every moment of sleep we can catch. But although we think our bodies are coping with just a few ‘catnaps’ a night, continuous lack of sleep eventually catches up on us all; it’s vitally important that we understand just how crucial sleep is to the whole family’s well being… not just for healthy child development, but also for the general health and well being of everyone in the household. Did you know that it has been proven that well rested children develop faster, are healthier and have fewer behavioural problems? With adults, lack of sleep has been proven to affect both memory and cognitive skills…. What more can I say? I was determined to invent a product that would not only help soothe particularly fractious babies, but also promote the formation of a healthy sleep pattern, so both babies and parents could benefit from a good night’s rest.

easidream® actually assists in encouraging the formation of a healthy sleep pattern plus it encourages babies to self settle on their back in the cot, which is great news in the fight against SIDS. It also solves the problem of sleep deprivation for the whole family by rewarding them with those valuable hours of sleep they so richly deserve. End result: happy, healthier babies and happy, healthier parents!