Cot bumpers

[Amy1996]

I'm so confused just put up my baby's cot and put the cot bumpers around it as I didn't know any different I thought they were to protect baby from getting stuck or hitting head on the bars. But someone has pointed out that they are not recommended now because of suffocation ??

Don’t get them- they are a suffocation risk, you don’t need them. My LO occasionally rolls into the side of her cot, never ever any harm done.

No definitely not recommended. You can get breathable ones that aren’t pretty but are safe. Recommendation is nothing in the cot but baby and a blanket.

They're a suffocation risk once baby can move. If s/he gets their face stuck against it they aren't breathable. We had them initially but now DS can shuffle they're gone. You can buy breathable air flow bumpers to protect against the bars

Agreed - they are unsafe this is the advice any health professional will give and the risk far outweighs the benefits.

I would not use them from birth, regardless of mobility.

Even if they do protect against bumps and bruises I would say the odd bruise is significantly preferable to suffocation.

Take them off op they're dangerous.

Should be bloody banned imo

They are a risk full stop, many parents have faced their worst nightmare because they underestimated how much movement a newborn has. Their heads are the heaviest part of their bodies, if they are even on a tiny slope they could roll headfirst into a bumper and not be able to move off. Just not worth it at all.

Thank you everyone I have no idea why I never knew this !

Completely unnecessary, and dangerous. They’re a total con.

Just tried to google the air flow ones i was thinking of but cant find them, theyre all panel ones. You can get ones that wrap around each individual bar to soften them without the risk if you're worried about baby hurting themselves

They used to be a "thing" and so still feature in movies, on stock photos, etc. I think inthe 1990s? Or maybe earlier?

Sorry, OP, that was meant to echo your comment re: how is it that you didn't know! Neither did I, I just thought they were pointless dust gatherers so wasn't even thinking of getting them. Then the antenatal class teacher mentioned they were a suffocation risk, which totally made sense, I just didn't put 2 & 2 together until then as they weren't on my radar, iykwm!

I think they are to look nice. Not very safe. I did use the breathable ones for a few months when my son got into the habit of sticking his limbs between the bars though

I just don't understand why they are allowed to be sold when they are apparently so dangerous !

I don't think the breathable ones are even recommended anymore are they are a strangulation risk.

The individual bar ones? I can see how the panel ones would be definitely!

There's a Facebook page (?justice for Preston I think it's called) that will tell you everything you need to know about why these are lethal.
The only thing a cot should have in it is a baby. No teddies, bumpers, blankets.
If your baby is repeatedly getting stuck in the bars, Ikea do a cot with mesh sides that's not very expensive but more solid than a travel cot.

@Amy1996 neither do I, hence why I think they should be banned! (the sale of them I mean)

I think it’s terrible the shops still sell them to be honest.

DH and I went to a big Mamas & Papas the other week to look at nursery furniture - every single cot had a bloody frilly bumper set up in it 😡.

It seems really irresponsible for stores to sell stuff like that because so many people will think ‘well it must be safe if it’s in a big baby shop’.

It's all about money.

Look at car seats which forward face from 9kg (around 9 Months) the government know there's safer alternatives (ISize rear facing to minimum 15 months and rear facing is now possible to up to 25kg age 6).

Yet car seat manufacturers continue to mass produce seats which only forward face from 9kg. Why... because they sell.... because people believe they are safe and they make big money from them.

Just look at the amount of baby foods marketed from 4 months still... even though NHS and WHO recommend no food until 6 months.

Money will al trump over safety sadly in many walks of life and child products is no different.

Patience, I don't entirely agree with your examples. While cot bumpers are pointless and should not be sold, the solids and car seats are somewhat different:

Solids: term babies gut is actually mature enough to start introducing some solids from 17weeks. Knowing this has helped many parents like me with a voraciously hungry baby for whom breast milk was simply not enough and we had to start adding solids from 4 months - this was on advice from my GP. Guidelines are general, there is individual variation that doesn't fit guidelines.

Car-seats: beyond 9kg, the only evidence for rear-facing seats is possibly prevention of whiplash-type injury, no evidence of greater safety for serious injury prevention with rear vs forward facing. The prevention benefit is only there if the seat is correctly installed, which unfortunately is easier to screw up with rear-facing than forward facing seat, especially adjusting it as the child gets bigger. Hence it's not actually as harmful as some would have you believe to have your kid forward facing after 9kg. What matters far more is that they have a car seat, which is where affordability and practicality come in.

I thought the advice was to put baby in their cot with their feet close to the end to stop them wriggling down and potentially suffocating under blankets, so bumpers would be pretty useless anyway as they tend to fit around the 'head' of the cot only.