Crib Addition

Don't get all excited. We are not adding another crib, nor are we adding another baby to our existing crib. Just adding a little safety and comfort feature for the Bert-man.

Bert has figured out how to roll both from his front to back and back to front. The trouble is, he hasn't put all his moves together to get back and forth. And, when he rolls in his crib, he sometimes winds up face down with one arm hanging down between the slats at the back. He managed to do this in the middle of the night without waking up and I found him in the morning with one cold little hand but otherwise just fine. Still, it's a little scary to think he might get himself stuck and hurt.

So, what to do? Crib bumpers aren't recommended because of concerns that babies can pull them down and suffocate so we didn't want to go that route. What we came up with was a panel that could be woven between the slats, blocking Bert's arm from getting stuck and also preventing him from pulling it down.

First, I pulled out some fabric left over from making the valances for the nursery. I cut a piece 16" x 44" (the fabric was 44" wide so that became the length of the panel). Folding it in half, right sides in, I pinned ribbons in the end to use to tie the panel onto the crib and then sewed a short end and the long side, leaving the opposite end open to turn the panel right side out.

Then I cut a piece of cotton batting to slide inside the panel to give it a little more structure and thickness.  I made it 7" wide, but in hindsight I should have made it a little wider for more of a snug fit. But it will do.

I put the batting inside the panel, turned in the edges of the open end and added ribbons, and stitched it shut. I also pinned the batting in place.

Then, to keep the batting in place permanently, I top-stitched around the whole panel about 1" from the edge. I'm anticipating that this will probably make a few spins through the washer in its lifetime, so I didn't want the batting to come loose and ball up inside.

Here's how it looks in Bert's crib:

He's taken a nap and slept the night with it in and no dangling arms out the back! Bonus feature: he can't knock his pacifiers out the back either. Now that I have that done, I'm sure he'll start rolling to the front and I'll have to make another panel for that. And just in case you thought I have to work on projects like this all by myself, I did have a little help.

Mocha was good company until clean-up time, when she bit me for moving her off the batting.