Cot Bumpers, Pillows & Doona's

Hi,

Needing some advice on the cot bumpers. Ashley is 14 months, has anybody else used cot bumpers, pillows and doona's at this age. Ashley is waking himself up because he keeps banging his head & body on the cot and if this wasn't happening he would be sleeping longer periods for sure. I have the cot right next to my bed so i'm feeling safe myself about having a bumper as i'de be able to check on him through the night but I would just like some other input on this because i'm a bit scared of SIDS. I live in the blue mountains (NSW) and it's very cold, blankets don't seem to be snug and warm enough, do you think a doona, well tucked in, would be ok? And what about pillows, proabably wait until his two?

I was just looking through the threads for something similar. Nina keeps banging her head too, and I was thinking about cot bumpers. We have the angelcare monitor in case something was to happen.
As for blankets, I have a very soft, but warm, blanket which I got from Toys r Us and it's very warm. It's large enough to be tucked in, but still light weight. You might be able to get something similar, or you might need 2 of them.
And for pillows, this is another I'm not too sure about either. I must admit, I've used a pillow a couple of times when Nina wasn't feeling well and needed to be a little upright, and it went fine. I used a soft baby pillow.

My son is doing the same thing. He is older (nearly 17 months now) and I am thinking of putting a cot bumper around the sides of his cot.

Have you thought about using a sleeping bag (grobag, living textiles etc) instead of blankets, so he can't throw them off?

There are a few girls in your general region on here who may be more familiar with the weather there than me, who may be able to advise a bit better.

I thought about a cot bumper for flynn but then read somewhere that the are not recommended once kids can stand up cause they will use them as footholds to climb out of the cot. Flynn is already trying to escape so no bumper for him!

oh! thanks Rory, I am glad you posted this before I went and bought one (was going to get it tomorrow with his new grobag)

I never thought of it that way, but it makes sense.

Hmm. I wonder what to do then. He wakes up at least once a night from hitting his head on the sides of the cot.

My daughter is nearly 14 months old, and i just purchased a baby bots bumper. Its nice and padded. She continaully bangs her had and gets her arms stuck in the bars....she's often snuggled up to the bumper when i go into check on her at night.
They are not recommended for children under 12 months of age....but every child is different,.......

Rayray, DH's solution is to stop short-sheeting him cot and place him in the bed with his head almost touching the bars anyway (given that Flynn would wriggle "up" the cot IYKWIM. Seems to have worked - Flynn soon learnt that even a small wiggle upwards would hit his head so he stays put, sort of.

Thanks Guys, think I might get the bumper recommended for 12 months an over but it is a worry they can try and get out!! hmmm....
DS legs are quite short so I don't think he'll be able to, ha,ha. the blanket from toys are us sounds good or a sleeping/gro bag. I think there is a kind of pillow you can use too that's ok over 12 months. Ash sleeps in our room anyway so I can keep a lion eye on him (I don't sleep much).

ps. how do I attach a photo?

I know a few friends that have used cot bumpers and have never had any issues. But if you actually speak to the SIDS hotline they dont recommend bumpers at any age . I also checked as Kaitlyn is a head banger :wall:

Abby has a thing just at the top of her cot. It pretty much covers that whole part of the cot (the end where he head is) its tied on in 6 places and cant fall off at all... on the packaging its called a 'cot top'.... her head is forever head butting the top of the cot so im glad we have this there.

I have used a bumper for Jayden since he was about 7 or 8mths old as he was banging his head and waking and has had his leg caught really badly a few times. I think as long as they can move and get up themselves its ok, if a 2mth old rolled into it while its asleep it might not be able to roll back but once they are older I don't think its a real problem. If your worried about the pillow....I used to put the pillow under the bottom sheet so again they aren't going to smother themselves......I haven't used a doona we're in QLD so we don't have too much of a need as yet (although the blankets are on the bed already!).

Only do what you feel comfortable doing though.

I'm in the Blue Mountains! yay! hehehe

Tallon is 13 months old.. and basically sleeps with us. We might be going shopping tomorrow to buy him his big bed :) He has slept between our pillows and under our quilt and has been fine. He knows how to kick em off when he doesn't want them!

I've tried the grobag.. he HATES it. And stupid me bought the warm one a couple of weeks ago to try again to get him in his cot.. but he gets twisted up in it in a matter of seconds, and I know he'll kick off any cot blankets and things.. so we're going to try for his own big bed.. and he'll probably have pillows beside him like he has in our bed and it'll be easier to tuck him in in a bed than a cot. We'll see how we go. I think being so mobile it's not a problem. I think SIDS is only a real risk up to 6 months or so.

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I thought about a cot bumper for flynn but then read somewhere that the are not recommended once kids can stand up cause they will use them as footholds to climb out of the cot.

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DH is adamant we need them too, but this is exaclty why I'm not keen.

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so we're going to try for his own big bed.. and he'll probably have pillows beside him like he has in our bed and it'll be easier to tuck him in in a bed than a cot. We'll see how we go. I think being so mobile it's not a problem. I think SIDS is only a real risk up to 6 months or so.

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That's exactly what another friend of mine suggested - a big bed. Her son only fell out a couple of times and then figured it out - stopped him banging his head.