I was just wondering when you start letting your little ones sleep with blankets and a pillow? Our son is 14 months and we still clear everything out of the crib, but he does sleep with a "blanky" - he chews on it before going to sleep, mostly. Then kind of wads it up under his head to sleep on. He wears a sleep sack (wearable blanket). When do they move up to pillows/blankets? I just assumed when we move him into his toddler bed. TIA.
Wow! sooner than I thought! I guess I'm still under the impression that they can't have lots of stuff in their crib. We'll have his pooh bear stuffed animal in there with him, but I usually take it out when he's asleep, so he just has his blanket. He would not keep a blanket over the top of him and I worry about him getting cold, so we do the sleep sacks. He's not too bad about wearing it, doesn't seem to mind at all, but he's a super easy going kid. I was thinking he might like a pillow to sleep with but I wasn't sure if there were any "rules" to this. I don't worry about him suffocating any more, I know he's so strong he will move if he needs to!
It is totally safe to do it now. I kept my son in the sleep sack until probably 18 months because he he would kick off his covers, get cold, and then wake (me) up. Keep him in the sack as long as you can. The rule of thumb for me is as long as they are sleeping well, keep things as they are. When they start not sleeping well, it's time to start changing things.
My daughter was about 2, when we got her a big girl bed. Since then she's had Lord knows what in that bed with her. It looks like a magpie's nest with a little girl sized dent in the middle.
Since your boy is using a blanket as a pillow you might look into finding a small throw pillow for him to use now. If you're handy with a sewing machine you can even make him a pillow. Cut a pillow case in half, stuff it and sew it closed.
Oh man, my 2 year old has every stuffed animal under the sun in his crib (his own doing)... kids like breathing, if they can lift their head, they'll move if they can't breathe!!
How do you get your 14 month old in a sleep sack?! My kids would have flipped!
At 14 months, your kiddo can use a pillow and blanket and stuffed animals. You should be comfortable with it now too, since he's considered 'a toddler'.
If I remember correctly, I gave my older 2 pillows once they moved to a toddler bed (if not before), but they were both in big beds before they were 1!!
I put them in once he was crawling. I figured if he had the arm and neck strength for that, he could move around as needed in the crib. And, the pillow helps with congestion when he has a cold since his head is up and easier to drain. So - way before 14 months!
They have small toddler pillows. Super flat and small in size. We did those for both my girls around their 1st bdays.
We always had hard toys and books in bed. Gives them something to do while they fall asleep or something to do when they wake up. My kids loved being in bed and so having stuff gave them more reason to be in bed. By a year and half they had also added a pile of stuffed animals they adored and a special blanket. So you can for sure let him have things. Some days I couldn't even see the mattress there was so much stuff!! I would make them take things out so at least one half was for the human :)
Also you don't have to do the sleep sak per say... you can do those thick full body sleepers. The ones that have feet and zippers. Keeps my girls nice and warm still and they are 2 and 3.
my daughter had a blanket in her bed from the time she was born, she had a pillow in her bed from the time she was around 15 months old or so
My 14 month old has about four baby blankets in his crib. I think we put a full size blanket and pillow in our oldest's crib at about 20 months...
My kids had blankets from day one. pillows ... ummm I think around 6 months but for sure by a year (might have been before 6 months, I just don't remember that many details anymore LOL).
ETA: my pediatrician told me that once they could lift their heads and especially once they could push themselves up on their arms it was ok to give them pillows. No rules at that time about blankets that I remember.
Even for daycare standards, which are generally crazy stringent and err on the super side of caution....14 mos is beyond what we have to follow, so you are golden to do what you feel comfortable with. But I wouldn't fix what isn't broken I guess? Altho I have many daycare children who potty train at 22-24 mos, so a sleep sack being gone well before then would be needed (they need to be able to get up and go potty on their own 2 feet!). But you still have time!
For us, here in MN, in home daycare, up to the DAY OF the first birthday, we can not have ANYTHING but the child in the bed (approved sleeping bed, which is changing with all the new crib standards..we are being told pack and plays are the next wave...time will tell and many providers are nervous about that!). SO no bumpers, no pillows, no lovey's, no blankets. Sheets must be very tight fitting, no slack at all. They approve and support the idea of a sleep sac for chilly rooms (sleeveless sacks, not blanket sleepers). This is ALL due to SIDS standards here in our state.
This is something that changes every few years, so for most of us, the standard we were "told" will be different depending on how old our kids are! My own is 17 years old and always had at least a lovely recieving blanket and a cover blanket. She covered her face from day one with that thin blanket (scared the crud out of me!), then at 2 years old was given her "horsey blankie" and STILL sleeps with that thin as heck threadbare thing under her pillow! She is a blanket kid and like another said, even at 2 years old in her toddler bed, had so much stuff in there, I am not sure how she fit in the little nest?? She survived. But the standards (at least for home childcare, and the warnings that exist) are there because of the kids that didn't survive and trying to do everyting you can to reduce the chance of that I guess.
Parents can do what they want. The guidelines are there to guide.
