When should you remove the bumper pad from a crib?
My daughter is 13 months and can pull herself up to standing in the crib. I have now removed the bumper pad. We will see how it goes.
Remove? You shouldn't even have one in the crib. We had a friend lose her baby at 2mo. old to SIDS (while I was pregnant) so that put the scare into me. We never had one. I would take it out as soon as possible.
Remove the bumper before you ever put an infant in the crib, unless, of course, it is a breathable bumper. Otherwise, they are unsafe and could harm your baby. You will find conflicting "facts," but the bottom line is they could contribute to SIDS and it is simply not worth the risk.
I only put them in once my boys (I have 2 1/2 yr. old twins who sleep in separate cribs...toddler beds now...yikes!!) starting rolling over and hitting their head on the rails of the crib. I took them out once they were old enough to realize there were rails and found their boundaries.
Good Luck :)
When they can roll over. Long before 18 months. As soon as they get themselves up against it, it needs to be removed. Bumper pads are really a contradiction in themselves. It is a bumper pad but when are able to 'bump' into them, it needs to be gone. The baby could get caught behind it or its face could press up against in it's sleep causing possible suffocation.
I removed mine when my girls started pulling themselves up. With my middle child I had to remove it sooner because she moved so much in her sleep. I was afraid she would get under somehow.
I removed them when my girls started pulling up to standing. (My older one quickly realized that she could stand on it and climb out! Yikes!) With my younger one, at first I didn't have a bumper, but I put one in quickly because she's a thrasher when she sleeps and she kept getting her arms caught between the slats in the middle of the night, and would wake herself up trying to roll over with one of her arms stuck through the slats. So, unlike some, I was a real fan of bumpers - up until ~9 months or so.
My kids are "active" sleepers and would have bruises all over their heads and would wake up all the time if I took the bumper out. My son is 23 months and still has a bumper and will have it until he transitions out of the crib. My daughter was the same.
My son has only tried to climb out of the crib once. He would have accomplished his mission whether or not the bumper was there. Unless you have a really tall and very firm bumper, I wouldn't worry about it too much.
Good luck!
I was paranoid about SIDS, so I never had one:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070918165353...
Actually I believe more kids have died from bumper pad related incidents than from faulty drop rails - it is a mystery to me why they are not recalled.
Getting a bump on their head from moving into the rail/end may hurt, but getting entangled on the pad may cause death...
In a SIDS inservice I learned you aren't even supposed to use them because of the risk they can get stuck or wedged up and won't be able to breathe. I would remove it right away.
My son likes to "travel" in his sleep, so I still have a bumper. I also love Wonder Bumpers: http://www.gomamagodesigns.com/wonder-bumpers
I didn't remove my daughters until she moved out of her crib at 18 months. She never tried to climb on it and she moved around a lot and I was concerned that she would hurt her head. She did like to snuggle up to the pad though!
