polyester will be 'fluffier'...at least a little bit. There are different lofts to polyester so you could look for a 'high loft' batting and maybe satisfy her...

Lots of babies around here these days, isn't grandmahood great. I made a small crib quilt with the high loft polyester and it was plenty fluffy for me. I tied mine because if you quilt it a lot it will squash it down, not to mention getting tired of pushing it thru the machine.

beverly

If you spray both sides of poly with some Downy wrinkle relaxer and toss it in the dryer it'll come out all poofy.
I did that because I had an old piece and it was so flat and wrinkled I couldn't ease it out. But I couldn't use it because when I sandwiched the quilt and tried to hand quilt the thing it was sooooo puffy I couldn't do it. It was too much..it looked like one of those quilted baby bed bumpers!!!
Bon
:)

"I threw up a little in my mouth but said nothing"

Dianne, someday I am going to learn not to drink coffee while reading your posts.

Rebecca

If you do what Bon said with the downy and dryer and then tied it, it should be plenty puffy.

Sally

There is new thinking on the use of crib 'bumpers' that you may want to take into consideration when making things for the new baby;

Crib bumper pads are a very common baby product, and parents often use bumper pads thinking they are increasing the safety of their child's crib. However, many health agencies and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) awareness groups are now recommending that parents skip the crib bumper, saying the need for crib bumpers has passed and that using these products may actually put children at greater risk for suffocation or death.
Why Do We Use Crib Bumper Pads?
Crib bumper pads became popular in older-style cribs where the slats were far enough apart that a baby's head could become trapped between the slats, posing a suffocation risk. Today, all cribs sold in the United States and Canada are required to have slats close enough together that it's nearly impossible for an infant's head to fit through.

So why do we still use the crib bumper pads? For some parents, the reason may be as simple as liking the way the bumper pad looks. The matched crib bedding sets in stores are often cute and the package deal makes for a nice coordinated nursery. Other parents are worried about their child's arms and legs sticking through the crib sides, and some worry that the baby will hit his or her head on the crib sides and cause injury. According to Health Canada, it is nearly impossible for an infant to hit his or her head hard enough on the crib to cause bruising or injury. Health Canada also 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.

Which Groups Have Recommended Against Bumper Pads?
Some major children's safety organizations have recently suggested that parents and child care providers should remove crib bumper pads from baby cribs. The groups include: American Academy of Pediatrics, Health Canada, National Center for Health and Safety in Child Care, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the First Candle/National SIDS Alliance. Some state and regional Back to Sleep campaigns now recommend removing bumper pads, as well.

Why Do These Groups Recommend Against Crib Bumper Pads?
One reason child safety organizations recommend against crib bumpers is that they pose a risk of suffocation. Just like a pillow or thick blanket, crib bumper pads can restrict a baby's breathing if the bumper is up next to the baby's nose or mouth. Suffocation risk is greatest when babies are very young and unable to move themselves away from potential hazards.
Rebreathing of air is another concern with crib bumper pads. The bumper reduces the flow of fresh air around baby during sleep. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that some infants, when they are overheated or lack sufficient oxygen during sleep, are unable to arouse themselves enough to prevent hypoxia and death. The AAP states that re-breathing of air may in fact be a contributing factor to SIDS.

Solutions
Since many infant safety organizations now recommend that nothing be inside the crib at all, the safest route for parents and babies would be to remove crib bumper pads altogether. For day care centers, the push for increased sleep safety may soon result in states mandating that child care providers no longer use crib bumper pads. For parents who are still concerned about their child sticking arms and legs through the crib slats, and feel that they must use a bumper pad, there are new mesh crib bumpers on the market today that allow more air to flow through the crib.

I'll relay the article on baby bumpers to my DIL. I think she just wants them for the look, not for protection. Inside the existing set is only a thin piece of foam a little thicker than cotton batting, they're basically useless. When my kids were babies I had plastic-covered 1-1.5 inch foam bumpers. It's really amazing they survived as now the research tells us we did everything wrong.

Several weeks ago my DGS managed to stand on a crib toy and high-dive out of the crib so there's nothing in there but a crocheted blanket now.

I'm going to experiment with the poly batting, Downy and dryer method and evaluate the puffiness.

Thanks for the advice, girls. I knew I could count on you!
Dianne

Just rereading the posts and I have a question for Bon:
Do I spray the poly batting with Downey before the quilt is constructed and toss it in the dryer? My brain is telling me it will disintegrate in there.
Dianne

Fairfield has a batting product called NU-foam for bumper pads (and chair cushions and lots of other stuff). They claim that it is safe to make bumper pads out of because it won't interfere with the baby's breathing.

I did a chair cushion project with this stuff. It's a very interesting product, and difficult to describe. It is NOT foam, it's something called "densified batting". This is my best way to describe it: dense, but puffed up polyester batting (some variations are 3 or 4 inches thick) with an ingredient that makes the batting dense so that it HOLDs that shape. It's very "airy", but has some give to it.

An ideal use for this stuff would be for patio chair cushions. If they were rained on, the water would all drain away through the batting fibers and leave just the cushion covering to dry.

My chair cushion is still soft and the NU-foam batting is only slightly collapsed, even after hundreds of hours of sitting on it.

I don't disagree with anything that Sandra posted about bumper pad safety, but IF someone insisted that there MUST be bumper pads, I'd make the pads out of this this stuff (see link for kit at bottom - I've seen the same kit product at Joann's, also).

You would NOT quilt this stuff, it's too thick and stiff to quilt, you just make a cover for the NU-foam bumper pad pieces.

Here's the Fairfield web page that describes this stuff. There are a couple of videos that are mostly sales hype, but still helpful in getting an idea of the nature of this stuff:

http://www.poly-fil.com/nufoam.asp

CMC
Reminds me that I should make some cushions to use on my music festival camping trip next week.

Here is a link that might be useful: NU-foam bumper pad kit

Yeah I worried about that to but it came out in perfect shape. I was really surprised at the difference. Just lay it on your bed and spritz it good. The spray stuff doen't hurt anything it touches.
Bon
:)

The comments on the bumper are not my OWN comments, but an article from the American Academy of Pediatrics! After reading the dangers, why would anyone even consider using one? When I first read of this problem all I could think of was 'thank God' my own child wasn't harmed by my innocent use of something that can be so dangerous! No one told us....and, I wonder how many infants were diagnosed as SID, when it was, in reality, a bumper fatality....