Do you let LO sleep with a comforter?

[RMarieClaire]

Just wondered what others do in terms of sleeping with comforters/blankees?

My 6mo wouldn't take the dummy so we use a small muslin with silk edges for a comforter. She holds it, sucks it, throws it over her face 🤦‍♀️, and it helps her settle to sleep. She can't settle without it now but she does sleep pretty well.

However I don't like to leave her with it overnight as I worry about the advice not to. But this means I'm often awake for hours at night waiting for her to settle deeply enough that I can take it away. This is, I know, kind of ridiculous as I know it's breathable and she has it for all her naps. Plus she still sleeps in a sleepyhead which is also not advised! I'm so tired, I can't tell if I'm just being paranoid or rightfully cautious!

My 7 month DD sleeps with a muslin every night and has done since 5 months.

If its quite a big muslin i tie the end in a knot so its not too big to wrap around her face.

I give her the thinnest muslins I have for bed

I have the same issue, I've started to tie the muslin to the side of his cot, he tends to hold onto it and with teething over the past month has started to stick on it too. It's secure enough that he can't pull it off the slats, but slack enough that he can hold onto it and put the corner in his mouth.

I know someone whose baby died sleeping with a thin blanket.

Breathable is a meaningless, marketing term. It doesn't mean it's safe.

I get that it sucks, but if you just get rid of it for a while, she'll get used to it not being there. There's a reason these things are not recommended.

That's terrible @WatchingTheMoon. I'm so sorry for your friend.

It's not a random one-off event, OP. It happens all the time.

You can easily google hundreds of similar stories. And there's no reason it can't happen to you too. I know it's awful to think about, but please keep your baby safe.

Thanks @OhWellThatsJustGreat @girlmummy25 - the one we use is tiny. About 10cm squared. I tie it to her sleepyhead when I go to bed, but when she wakes at 2am she can't setttle without having it loose. Last night I waited for her to fall asleep and tied it again, but I have sleeping issues and I ended up taking 3 hours to get back to sleep so it's not really a good solution. We're also in process of weaning off sleepyhead and it's so small it wouldn't really even reach her from side of cot.

I might look into safer comforters but I don't think anything is truly 'safe' 😥

Here's what she tends to do with it

Better pic!

I can’t remember when mine started having her little elephant comforter, but it absolutely did help her settle herself back off when she woke in the night. I used to panic like mad and go and move it each time she smushed it on her face. Now at 13mo she lays it totally over her head and presses her face into the mattress to get to sleep. Great for the mummy anxiety levels.

Sorry to not be very helpful, but I just wanted to say that I remember this dilemma well!

I think if you're using a sleepyhead that's also dangerous. I'll be honest it doesn't look great from your photos that baby's mouth is covered. As someone once said on here, the worst night a parent could have is not a sleepless one, but the night something awful happens. So I think you'll need to remove it and put up with a few bad nights, it just isn't worth the risk.

The Sleepyhead is banned in Canada. A lot of changes are going on with products previously advertised as safe for sleep in the US too.

Sleepyhead also not recommended in the UK.

Also "breathable" isn't supposed to mean you can breath through it, it refers to the fabric being light - for example if it were a hot day you'd want to wear breathable clothing to let air circulate and not overheat/get sweaty etc

Doesn’t sound great. Your baby looks very young, can’t you try a dummy again? They often don’t take them straightaway.

Thanks all. I know the sleepyhead needs to go. Though frankly it's been a godsend. I'm weaning her off for naps and hopefully will go cold turkey for night time tomorrow.

She's six months and a good roller so I worry she'll flip straight over but there we are

These muslins are literally breathable - I've tested them - but I do worry about them getting caught around her head, hence tying it.

Has anyone tried a Cusky? They're what the NHS use apparently

Thanks @thunderthighsohwoe - why are babies so weird? She doesn't suck her thumb or take a dummy, and I do think a comforter like this is a good alternative as a source of comfort - also great that it's a muslin as I can have multiple and wash and dry so easily! It's just another source of worry though.

There's nothing wrong with her rolling. Any position they roll into by themselves is fine. Of course they should start on their back but if they can roll onto their stomach by themselves, that's not an issue.

@RMarieClaire Ditto re the dummy and thumb! Thinking back, I think that once she became attached to it - about 6/7 months - we played loads of peekaboo games where I threw it on her head to help her learn to pull it off in the night.

Also ditto re the Sleepyhead! Reflux baby, so it helped when tiny re the thrashing about. Tried like you to wean her off it when she started to outgrow the Deluxe, but we ended up at minor injuries in the early hours following a bashing head on the side of the cot/vomiting incident and the nurses there concluded that getting the Grand was the lesser of two evils.

I’m ordering a good sleeper next time!