Sedona, no drop sided cribs in the last almost 5 years....New Safety Rule Cribs 2011

All the cribs I've seen recently have adjustable mattresses, so you start them out high when the baby is little and can't tumble out, then you lower it as they get bigger. When they are able to stand, the mattress is quite low, but since you can lift the baby from under the arms, it's not as hard on the back. Here's a guide that might help. I disagree with their choice of mattress - unless you choose real, natural latex foam. I'd for sure get an organically manufactured mattress. I wouldn't want the off gassing that occurs with other materials for a child (or anyone for that matter).

how to buy a crib

I too am a first time grandma to be. Having no knowledge of all the baby things that exist now I opted to give them a check so they could purchase what they wanted.

Also, recommendations are against bumper pads and even blankets. Baby has to have a warm sack style sleeper. I'm sure we were doing "new" things when our babes were little. Our mothers and MIL's had to adapt to our new ways.

I remember shopping for a crib for the grandsons with my daughter. The ones that convert into beds when they out grow the crib are more expensive. Also, it seemed like they had lots of extra holes drilled into the headboards and foot boards when you turned them into regular beds, and they were scratched up a lot. I like cribs that are meant to be cribs.

I also bought a portable crib (like a mini crib) to use at my house for all the overnights. I bought a thicker mattress for it too. I did not want to use a Pack N Play because of the wear and tear on my aging back. Lifting a baby from the bottom of the playpen type portable crib would do me in.

I would never make it, probably I would just drop the baby as I would not be able to reach the crib mattress with the side up. Too short! To achy! Alyssa never slept in her crib. Her's is the kind that converts to a youth bed and then a big bed.

Sue

Know what you mean, Seniorgal. However, I just read an article about Finland...How they have greatly reduced their infant mortality rate buy providing a "cardboard box" (with accessories needed in Finland weather) to use for the first 3 or 4 months of the infants life. As I was reading it, I couldn't help but 'remember' how MY first 2 children spent their first few months of life...parked in a "travel bed" beside our bed as we just couldn't instantly afford a crib. Remember those days when dresser drawers were used? Seems (according to that article) that parents and babies were more rested, and the babies learned to put themselves 'back to sleep' with just a reassuring pat from parent noticing the restless slumber...and able to 'reassure' infant without completely waking up. My question....How did our affluence make us so stupid?

They make something sort of like that. I think it's called a "cosleeper". It goes beside the bed, maybe attaches, and has rails around the other sides. It's safe for baby because no one can roll over and squish him, but has the benefits Nanny was talking about for the box or drawer.

A lot of children got their fingers caught in the mechanisms, etc., which is why they've moved away from drop rails on cribs.

A crib is such a personal matter with parents that I suggest you front them the money and allow then to choose. What you choose may not be to their liking. This way, you are relieved of making the choice and yet participate in a very positive manner.

Even the old cribs had the option to lower the matress as the baby got bigger. My daughter is short like me - I hope it won't be hard on her back.

Seniorgal, I'm with you. We grew up despite never wearing a seat belt, playing on "dangerous" playground equipment, etc. Not to mention that I always put my babies to sleep on their bellies (gasp!) Of course I want my grandchild to be in a safe environment but I do wonder about the authorities who come up with these rules. They've changed their recommendations on sleeping so many times (back, tummy, back) it kind of makes me think about the other authorities who come out and make a blanket statement about a particular food and then contradict it a year or two later. I forgot, is it okay to eat more than a few eggs each week? JK!

All of us alive now lived through unsafe practices, but that doesn't mean they are safe.

Car seats, in particular, reduce the risk of death by 71% in infants under a year old. You can be the safest driver in the world and it won't matter if somebody else slams into your car and the force of physics throws your child out of your arms and into the windshield.

Since the recommendation, based on studies has suggested putting babies to sleep on their back without blankets and bumpers, SIDS rates have dropped dramatically.

I'm sure some of those moms in the 50s- 80s whose babies died from SIDS wish they could go back and do it the "modern" way, even if others around them laughed.

Drop side cribs were outlawed after years of recalls and over 30 children dying because the side came detached at the base and suffocated or strangled infants. My oldest 2 daughters were in drop side cribs, when the recall and ban happened and the company sent me repair kits to switch the beds to fixed side.

With my next two, yes, it was slightly more of a pain but I wouldn't go back to drop side. Even my mom realized the issue and she and I took a saw to her old drop side from the 90s that she had kept for keeping grandbabies and threw it in the trash so no one else would try to use it.

She has given me a hard time about modern parenting safety until I reminded her that she was an early adopter of car seats, before they were required and I'm sure she got chastized by her family for it.

I sure do wish they still had merry-go-rounds on the playground though!

DD's family co-sleeps. They did right from the start following the "rules" of attachment parenting and ease of breast feeding. They ended up taking one side rail off the crib and attaching to the side of their bed when the baby got too big to sleep between them. Not they have two kids, the younger is getting big, so the 3 year old is going to be transitioned to her own bed soon.

We still have merry go rounds on some playgrounds. Many playgrounds are also being redesigned to offer more challenges to kids. I think it's a backlash to to the "my little snowflake should never have a skinned knee" era. Plus they have safer surfaces to land on. DD and her friends seem to be back into letting their kids roughhouse and take calculated risks more often. Another backlash to an over protective society perhaps? However they are vigilant when it comes to things like child car seat safety etc. They are having their kids right facing backwards for several years etc.

Here's a modern alternative to the blankets and is supposed to help babies sleep better. My neighbor used it for her twins and swears by it. Magic Sleepsuit

It's supposed to keep baby warm and keep them swaddled so they don't make those little jerky movements that wake them up.

Common sense? Having the side fail and having your baby crushed has nothing to do with sense. You got lucky. Others weren't and they put an end to the need for luck.