Baby Crib Bedding Sets - A Guide to Baby's Blankets, Bumpers, Pillows, Crib Sheets and Skirts

Considering your new baby will spend more than half of their first year of life sleeping, it's important to put quite a lot of thought and care into their bedding. You will find many thousands of choices for what you can buy to make up your baby crib bedding sets, in various styles and designs that are widely available today.

Baby Crib Bedding - The Many Essentials to a Bedding Set For Your Baby

Here are some of the main items that would comprise the typical baby bedding set:

Blankets

Often, the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of baby blankets are the traditional kind that feature a strip of satin on the outer edges as well as a soft, waffled fabric, but now, blankets for baby are also available in an incredible number of fabrics, weights, colors, patterns, styles, and sizes. Remember to keep loose blankets out of baby's crib while they're sleeping and to make sure baby won't become overheated during the night.

Bumpers

Bumper pads are long strips of padding covered in fabric that are intended to keep baby safe and prevent him or her from hitting their face on the crib's bars or becoming entangled in them. However, there is some debate about the use of crib bumpers as since they are soft, there may be a slight risk of suffocation. If you do choose to use them, be absolutely certain they fit as snug as possible against the bars with no loose strings for baby to get a hold of, and that you also remove or trim down any tags before using.

Pillows

While there are plenty of pillows geared toward babies and many are made to match full crib sets, it's always important keep pillows out of the crib to avoid the risk of suffocation. Only use pillows when baby is being supervised, or wait until they're older and able to move their head around adequately. In the meantime, pillows make for great decorations and can be placed on shelves, dressers, and rocking chairs to spice up the look of the room but still keep baby safe in the process.

Quilts

Although babies do need some help regulating their body temperatures until a little after the age of one year or so, as a general rule, a baby needs about the same amount of blankets as an adult would, so quilts are usually a bit too warm and heavy for an infant. Keep quilts on the crib in the place of a comforter purely as a decoration, unless it's really chilly, or until baby gets a bit older. Quilts also make for beautiful wall hangings in the nursery or on the door to the room or closet.

Sheets and sheet protectors

Sheets for baby cribs are fitted, or elasticized, and are designed to fit mattresses tightly. Baby doesn’t need the top, or flat, sheet yet to avoid the risk of suffocation or becoming tangled up during the night. Sheet protectors, which are simple square pieces of fabric with waterproof backing on one side, can be placed in between two fitted sheets so in the case of an accident, the first sheet and protector can be removed leaving a clean fresh sheet underneath, which is a great time saver especially for those inevitable middle-of-the-night mishaps.

Crib Skirts

Crib skirts or dust ruffles fit around the bottom of the crib and usually come with a full matching set. Besides being pretty and decorative, crib skirts also provide an extra "storage" space underneath the crib, keeping boxes or toys neat and out of sight.

Also: Baby Bedding, Choosing Baby Crib Bedding Sets, Baby Crib Sets, Baby Blankets, Organic Baby Bedding, Personalized Baby Blankets