J.W.
They have baby safety classes? Lord.....
My kids always slept with a blanket, they are all still with us.
We see our pediatrician in 3 weeks for our 9 month checkup and I have lots of questions, sorry! I love asking them here as well to see what moms have done. When can baby sleep with a blanket? How long do they wear the sleep sacks? I remember in our baby safety class she said the prime time for SIDS danger was 2-9 months if I remember correctly.
They have baby safety classes? Lord.....
My kids always slept with a blanket, they are all still with us.
I would think you could do it now. Once they start rolling over and scooching or crawling, they are capable of moving their head away from a pillow or blanket. I think our ped said that once they can rollover, the risk of SIDS is dramatically reduced. I know she mentioned birth to 6 months as being the real concern.
I'd say you're fine to use a blanket now.
Our pediatrician said, Not before one year.
Then we asked him again at a different appointment and he said, 18 months at the least. ;-)
My husband was in a big hurry to let our DD sleep with a blanket for some reason - I think he thought it looked sad to see her in the crib with nothing covering her but pajamas - so we went with one year. :)
Isn't a baby/toddler lying in the crib with a nice blanket, just one of the sweetest sights on earth? ::happy sigh::
I don't know the "right" answer, but my daughter is 7 months and sleeps with her blanket.
My son wore sleep sacks until about 18 months. We gave him a blanket at 12 months, but he couldn't physically get it back on once he rolled over until about 18 months. So, he was covered when he first went down, but after one roll he had no cover. That's why we stuck with the sleep sacks for longer. (Our area is cold and room was drafty too).
she should be well past the SIDS stage by now. The highest risk according to NIH is 2-4 months old. My kids HATED those sleepsacks from the beginning so we always had to put them in blanket sleepers. At 9 months they each had a lovey and a fleecy baby blanket that they slept with although it wasnt really there for warmth. My kids always woke up when they were laid down on cold sheets so if I laid it down flat and laid them on top of their blankey, they were nice and snug.
I also noticed early on that they always slept rock solid when they were on my bed with me for naps or snuggled with a blankey in their seat but never well in their crib. The crib mattress was a stiff vinyl covered thing. I figured I wouldnt sleep well on that either. I bought a really good mattress pad/cover and then I put a baby quilt under the mattress pad with the sheet on top of the. It was just soft enough to be safe and comfy and it helped them sleep warmer too.
A strategy I learned for helping babies sleep covered by a blanket is to tuck the blanket under the sides of the mattress and only let it come up to the middle of their chest. My kids are active sleepers and always wiggled out and ended up sideways in the bed so it never quite worked for us but that might for you.
I gave our daughter a blanket at around 9 months ( she could sit up and crawl at that point). By a year it should definitely be okay. I thought the risk for SIDS was pretty much nil by 6 months.