"Safety Proofing" My Daughter's Crib

Updated on April 20, 2008
A.C. asks from Aurora, IN
17 answers

Hello beautiful mothers! I have a tiny delema and I'd love your help with it.

My daughter is 6 months old. She has been sleeping in her crib by herself since she was two weeks old. She is now trying to learn to crawl. She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks front & back. She'll even scoot her little bitty knees forward. That's when she gets away from herself and falls on her belly. Anyway, for about a week now, she's been scooting backwards (really funny to watch). She will do this in her crib when she wakes up from a nap or from her night's sleep. The problem with this is that she scoots her little feet right inbetween the bars of the crib. She hasn't figured out how to get her feet back out yet so she starts crying. What can I do to protect her little feet? I already have a bumper pad. She would lift it up with her feet and stick them in there anyway. So I tried to keep it pulled down so she can't get under it. What does she do? She goes over the bumper pad then. She's very active. She rolls over constantly (front to back & back to front). Is this one of those things she just has to figure out on her own? Please help me ladies (and if there's a dad or two out there)!

Thank you so much!
-A.

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So What Happened?

Thank you everyone for you suggestions. I will be giving some of them a try. She already seems to be growing out of this phase. Her feet were caught even fewer times today than yesterday. So again, thank you all for your help.

Featured Answers

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C.G.

answers from Columbus on

We have the Crib Shield. Bought it online at Walmart for $20 or less. Safest I found and can be used till 3 years old unlike other mesh bumpers which must be removed by 9 months old.

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L.L.

answers from Columbus on

Okay, go to onestepahead.com and search for breathable bumper. You will find a screen bumper. This is good for the child who keeps getting legs caught in the crib rails. Hope this helps!!
L.

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B.I.

answers from Indianapolis on

Hi A.,

On the internet as well as baby stores they sell a net that goes on your crib. It makes it so baby can't get through the slits. It also has a top to it so if the baby starts to climb out of crib at an early age (as our son did.) I've heard of a lot of people that use it. Best of luck!

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A.C.

answers from Columbus on

Well, I was going to say something about a bumper pad but you already mentioned it. How about putting a piece of cardboard behind the bumper pad so her feel won't go through. Either tape one on or get one long enough so that it sits on the ground. Maybe even a thin board, something that would stay put......Good luck!

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D.T.

answers from Indianapolis on

Once kids are moving it's time to remove the bumper pads, even the thin mesh ones. First, if they are installed correctly, she shouldn't be able to move it out of the way and get her feet under it. It shoudl be very tight and below the top of the mattress a bit. Second, many babies use them to climb out of the crib. Again, even the mesh ones... they are thin, but because they are so taught, a baby can easily stand on it and it holds up under their weight. Many babies have fallen out that way. All my kids were pulling themselves up and standing within a week or two of crawling/scooting. As for getting the feet through - she'll figure it out sooner or later.

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H.Z.

answers from Kokomo on

A.,
we found when we had our youngest a mesh bumper that lines the crib instead of the normal bumper. they are hard to find but i found a couple on babiesrus.com and search for breathable bumpers. they come up with 2 and then on the right side there is one more. i read all the reviews and they sound as if alot of people bought them for the dame problem and it worked. we never actually purchased due to we have a solid back crib and sounded as if they might not work well with that. hope this helps, good luck.
H.

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T.P.

answers from Canton on

Instead of the bumper, I'd try one of those mesh 'screens' for cribs.

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H.S.

answers from Cleveland on

Hi! I had the same problem with my daughter. Her chubby little knees used to get stuck all the time! We used to just help her out whenever it happened. She eventually figured it out on her own. You might want to remove the bumper pads so that she doesn't get stuck in them. Also, my daughter went from crawling to pulling herself in one week at 6 months old! The bumpers could give her leverage and put her at risk of falling out. Good luck, this time will pass quickly! H.

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E.B.

answers from Cleveland on

I had this problem too! I have a funny picture of my daughter calmly looking at the camera with two legs and one arm stuck in-between the slats of the crib. I asked her doctor for advice since everything I read said NO Bumpers, and she said no baby has ever been hurt from sticking their legs out but she knows of babies suffocating in the bumpers. When she cried I would peek to see if anything was stuck and free her if it was.
It was a phase that didn't last long.

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K.B.

answers from Indianapolis on

HI A.,

Children are so resillient.
I had to let my children figure it out.
You really can't keep it from happening, my baby boy used to get so mad rolling around and his little arm would get stuck too ;)
She'll one day figure it out though.... all you can do it go in there and pull her out ;)

Amy

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S.E.

answers from Indianapolis on

Check out One Step Ahead - you can find them online. I have seen a mesh type screen that you can put on instead of a bumper pad. This will help limbs from escaping, but allow air flow. I never got one with any of my three, but I only had to rescue an arm or leg once or twice. Hope it helps.

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A.L.

answers from Columbus on

Hi A.,
Just a word of caution for you. Your little girl is growing stronger every day and it won't be long before she'll be pulling herself up on the crib bars. Then the bumper pads can be used to climb out! I had one child who went from rolling over to crawling to her first steps in 6 weeks! So you'll want to watch her carefully.

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M.B.

answers from Lima on

Sounds like you already figured it out. You coud put her in a playpen for now.

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H.H.

answers from Cincinnati on

Hi A.! my name is H. h. and I have three kids. ranging from 8,6, and 9 months. My daughter lucy is now doing what your daughter is doing and let me tell you we had to take the bumber pad off and lower her crib! I caught her one day trying to pull her self up onto the bumber pad and i thought she was going to fall out, so my docter had told me I should take out the bumper pad and lower the crib. I don't know what you could do for her feet? If you put socks on her she might just pull them off! good luck! H. H.

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R.D.

answers from Indianapolis on

I didn't see this mentioned, but get that bumper pad out of her crib! Now that she is moving around alot, it can become a choking hazard. There have been reports of children getting tangled up in the pad and being strangled. I'm surprised you weren't told this in any parenting classes, but you no longer should put bumper pads in cribs because of the hazards.

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C.B.

answers from Lafayette on

with my son i used 2 bumper pads. i had one tucked half way down between the mattress & the crib & the other one i overlapped about 4 inches & stitched together in places to keep him from moving them & getting stuck between them. i alo found that bumper pads at the stores weren't that wide, so i bought a good strong fabric & made my own. it's very easy & the most expensive thing to buy is the batting(2.97). just measure each length of the outside of the crib ie:front head of crib to foot. length of foot & head ect. and how tall you want the bumper pad to be. place the batting under the fabric & fold so the right sides of the fabric face each other(batting should be only thing visible), then sew it together leaving about 7-8 inches at the end open, once done gently turn it right side out and sew the opening shut and presto you have a bumper pad. good luck!

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S.C.

answers from Fort Wayne on

I have a mesh bumper that worked really well. I don't know if it work for your little one though. It sounds like she may be able to figure it out. I got our mesh bumpers at Babies R Us. I can't remember how much they were, but I'm pretty sure it was fairly inexpensive.

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