Baby bedding help and tip section

Tip for looking for a perfect baby bedding dust ruffle:

Unlike regular beds' dust ruffle that have 15" drop, a baby crib dust ruffle needs to be longer than 15". For at least the first 12 months, crib mattress will be set on high and medium position, which is at least 20" to 30" high. A dust ruffle of 15" or less will look incomplete and out of place.

If you look at a set that does not specify how long the dust ruffle is, chances are it's not long enough so the measurement is not disclosed.

Why would a dust ruffle not be long enough? To save fabric! A perfect dust ruffle that adds beauty to your crib bedding set needs to be at least 17" to 20 " long.

Tip for looking for the right color of baby crib set:

Infants' eyes cannot see pastel, light muted colors. They can pick up bright primary color with high contrast. Most infants love strong intense colors, thus the fun bright fabrics of their room and bedding keep them happy and content.

However, research has proven that a there are a small number of babies (more likely the colic babies) are sensitive to bright intense color. If your baby shows sights of distress and unsettled in a strong colorful surrounding, consider getting his or her the bedding of more relaxing, muted color such as lavender, blushed rose pink, soft sage, ivory, taupe…

Tip for buying a perfect crib bumper:

Baby bedding bumpers should not be shorter than 10" and higher than 11". This is the right height that provides enough protection for the baby' head but not too high to obstruct the baby's view when he or she lie down, thus helps him or her to feel connected to the outside world.

A crib bumper should be stuffed with soft fiberfill but not with foam. Fiberfill is pillow-like that provides cushion but dose not have a sturdier body like foam that the baby will use it as a stepping stool to climb out of the crib later. Fiberfill is more expensive than foam and also more time consuming for manufacturers, so you will see more often cribs bumpers are filled with foam that look good but very inexpensive.

Particularly with first babies, I dunno what happens to us, we just go NUTS and we are not always thinking practically (i.e. we are more concerned with pretty than reality). Knowing what I know now (mom of three), I would never have spent so much money, nor insisted on everything being pristine and new. I had a beautiful crib with all the fancy linens...never used the thing. Gave it to the women's shelter last winter (including the linens), looking like new after 3 kids and almost 10 years. I ended up family bedding because it was the most practical way to nurse and get sleep for us. I had a fancy change table...rarely used it, partly because my kids were big, it was on the second floor and it was a whole lot easier to change the kid on the floor or on a bed. I could go on about other silly things I bought or had given to me.

I mean, why do we even bother with fancy nurseries? Not only does the baby not care (or like my three, never spends 3 minutes in there), but if you go the foo-foo baby route, by the time the kid DOES care, you have to redecorate. Better to skip to the kid room decor and buy a single bed for the room right off the bat and never mind the $150 crib linen set in the Peter Rabbit motif.

By the time I got to #2, I had figured out that hand me downs and borrowing was a lot more practical and much cheaper. A girl friend, her sister in law and I had a rotation going - and it worked great for 8 kids in total. I had borrowed moses baskets, boppy pillows, bouncy chairs, saucer chairs, jolly jumpers, you name it. By coincidence, between the three of us we just happened to time it right so once each of us was done with a particular size or phase, we'd wash it all, weed out the wornstuff, add the new items we had, and pass the whole batch on to whoever needed it next. I had TONS of great baby stuff going that route, and saved a lot of money. When we were done, everything that was still good went off to the women's shelter.

I say, put out the word with friends and family that you are looking for loaners and hand me downs and see what you get.

Mary G.