When will parents realise that covering pushchair with blankets and muslin sheets is actually dangerous?

[longlocks]

Already seen two mums doing this and its just turned 11:30am. They have no idea that putting a blanket over the pushchair traps air and makes the pushchair area warmer. Babies can die of SIDS if they are overheated. Put a parasol or a sun cover instead.

I always thought it was because the blanket might fall down and cause suffocation. If a covering makes the pram area dangerously hot then surely babies would all drop dead when you put a waterproof cover on?

You haven't read my post properly despite quoting it.

I stated no such thing?

I stated that they replied they do it because that's what they do in their country.

My opinion (not that I gave it) is that they know their own children best, and they know how often they check on them.

It's not for others to judge.

I think the problem is there are some risks to this- the original study in 2014 which kicked off all the newspaper reporting covered the pram fully with a blanket and left it in the midday sun for an hour. Clearly not a good idea! This study shows an increase in temperature of 2.6 degrees when covering a pram with a dry muslin- in the Australian summertime.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00140139.2023.2172212#d1e211

Realistically, lightly covering a pram with a muslin in the UK summer is not going to cause infant deaths. You also have to weigh up the dangers of UV exposure on baby skin vs the pushchair getting a degree hotter on a 22 degree day. But guidance from the NHS etc is going to have to hit the lowest common demonstrator (ie. The idiot who will
fully cover the oram with a blanket and leave it in the sun) so of course they say don’t do it. But the fear mongering “I must tell mums in case they kill their babies” is ridiculous and based on very little.

What did they say when you politely stopped and told them?

I did this 17 years ago...I had no idea. Obviously if I'd have known I wouldn't

'Silly girls'???

Yes but the nhs also warns against prep machines or storing formula in the fridge - make it fresh each time. It’s not practical. Which is why people take their advice with a pinch of salt. So long as there is air circulating a light muslin is not going to cause harm.

Some common sense!

I’m asking for the evidence base. If, as previous poster has said they’ll do, you’re going to call mums “silly little girls” in a very patronising and misogynistic way, you’d better have some solid facts behind you. Another poster has shown that the temp might go up a degree, and there’s a big difference between closing the gaps tight and parking the pram in the midday sun for an hour and strolling around, in and out of the shade, with a breeze wafting through.

By 11am it must have been what, 17-20 degrees in the warmest part of the country?

I think the mothers can use their own common sense.

This is actually the sort of thing that bothers me, not the muslins but the judgey nosey parkers. When was the last time you heard of a baby dying from SIDS due to a 40 minute nap being shaded by a very light breathable cloth?

In Africa you also have to worry about (nasty) flies getting on the baby so a cover may be more essential. A heavy blanket I can believe might be dangerous, a light muslin cover (almost like net curtains) I can't believe could cause over heating, but keeps some of the worst of the sun off.

You’re the one lacking common sense. Keep your silly little poorly informed opinions to yourself.

You sound like a pretentious idiot.

The superiority is wafting off you. Plus, a dead baby wouldn’t be on your conscience, as in reality you would have no idea about whether a baby you saw, died or not.

There's a huge difference between covering a pram with a thick blanket and a thin airy muslin.

God. Parents like you are INSUFFERABLE with their high and mighty supposed superiority. If you kept your thoughts to yourselves, that would be one thing. But posting shite like this on a public forum is something else. Who do you think you are? More importantly: who and what do you think your readers are?

There's a huge difference between a blanket and a muslin, both in how much heat is retained and how much air circulates through. YABU unreasonable for conflating them.

My pram unzips and rolls up at the back and has mesh so it would look covered from the front but has air flow from the back maybe this is the case for some other prams too

A muslin cloth is thin, light, and has holes in big enough to let liquid through, let alone air. It is not going to stop air circulating, especially if it's just hanging loosely from a pushchair hood. Very different from a blanket, which I take to mean woolly and warm.

I took my eldest to Australia when he was very young as my mum lived there, took a parasol which was a useless item but bought a really nice shade there instead so used that for all 4 of the kids could never seem to find anything similar here, my eldest is 24 so a few years ago now.

I think I’d know what to say to the sanctimonious ‘silly little girls’ poster honestly, you can educate people without belittling them and being an arse! I was 22 when I had my son but was also a fully qualified paediatric nurse, age clearly does not equate to knowledge or manners with some people

Yup. Having grown up in Africa, and having had my child as a baby there, I can confirm this. A light muslin type cloth if brilliant - provides shade from the sun and also stops tsetse flies and mosquitoes. And the baby can still breathe. Never seen a pram covered in a blanket, either at home or here.

So the actual guidance doesn’t tell Mums not to use muslins then. What with them being lightweight and breathable.

Shame on anyone who thinks this is a reason to bully women with small children.

If it’s 1 in 10000, would you want to prevent that 1? Doesn’t need to be ‘like flies’ to make it worth avoiding.

I had a really snug rain cover for one of my buggies and in the rain it would instantly steam up! I used to pull the side of the cover away from its fastening, as I was worried dd would overheat.

On the other hand I would happily put a muslin cloth over my pram, leaving a gap for airflow. I would check the air temp with my hand inside the pram area

I used to worry a lot more about dd overheating in the baby seat of my car!

There's no evidence that it has ever happened even once.

No evidence from your Google search you mean. It doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened and the NHS guidance isn’t based on nothing.