Quilters are natural gift givers and many of you, like myself, especially enjoy welcoming new babies into the world with a quilt. With the colors and style reflecting the expecting mother’s taste. it’s often the centerpiece of the nursery, So, you can imagine my surprise when local physician (T. Glen Pait, M.D.) recommended this week on his radio show, Here’s to Your Health, to never give one to a newborn. He says,
If you are considering a blanket or comforter as a gift for a newborn, something to decorate the nursery would be much, much safer.
In the context of preventing SIDS, which was the topic of the show, I get his point. Tiny babies need to sleep on their backs on a tightly fitted sheet with no bedding or stuffed toys in the crib. But his advice to not give one as a gift assumes that parents who receive one for their baby are not savvy enough to keep it out of the crib until their wee one is a bit older (peak age for SIDS deaths is 3 1/2 months). As every parent knows, babies do not stay small long. It would be a shame to deprive them of a gift they will likely cherish their entire lives over a well meaning but misdirected PSA (public service announcement).
Photo uploaded by editor shows a portion of a baby quilt made showcasing a Mark Twain fabric collection. It was a gift to a newborn.
What a jack**s…snooby
Snooby: I think Dr. Pait is more of a parrot, just relaying the words of Marian Willinger, Ph.D. in a press release dated 12/1/2014 from NIH – National Institutes of Health for the study entitled Nearly 55 percent of U.S. infants sleep with potentially unsafe bedding
Dr. Willinger explains:
“Parents receive a lot of mixed messages,” said study author Marian Willinger, Ph.D., special assistant for SIDS at the NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. “Relatives may give them quilts or fluffy blankets as presents for the new baby, and they feel obligated to use them.”
Source noodls.
I’m with Samira…Then they’re both jacka**es.
What a ridiculous man… Scaring young mothers with a stupid idea… Good thing us mothers and grandmothers know better… He’s probably never had kids… Shameful…
It’s hard to believe so many generations of babies have survived being covered with quilts,blankets,comforters etc. This all before there were stretchy suits ……..and “experts” on everything, all contradicting each other !!
Telling people not to give babies quilts, is like telling people not to give a little kid a red rider BB gun like in A Christmas Story, because they’ll shoot their eye out. It’s all about parental guidance, and responsibility. I wouldn’t obligated to put something in the crib with my child that could potentially be hazardous just because someone made it as a gift. Hazardous is hazardous. Now, would I want to take pics of me holding the baby with the blanket that they made? OF COURSE! Because that’s safe. When did we all lose our common sense? Good lord.
this dr is full of bs….
There’s more than one way to use a quilt? What about using it as a play mat for tummy time etc? What about hanging it on a wall. Keep making those quilts for babies, please.
I had my son 45 years ago. The junk that has come out since then still amazes me. A younger friend whose daughters were born when it was the thing to only give them formula until they were six months old still blows my mind. They were always hungry, their skin was translucent and they got colds more often. Mothers still know how to care for their babies and a cuddly warm quilt isn’t any more dangerous than a blanket. You have to be a parent and take care of your child so you check on them regularly, but no quilts? Good grief, what’s next?
Hey, this gives us the right to deliver the quilt late!
Barbara,
Brilliant idea Barbara! –Scarlett
I could not have said it better Betty! So true. When I raised my daughter, we were supposed to put them on their stomachs. Not now! –Scarlett
Exactly Bronwyn! Parents are not stupid and will do what is appropriate. If you are close enough to a person to make a baby quilt for them, then you will no doubt have had a conversation about its safe use. –Scarlett
I hear you Adiarra, great point. It’s exactly like my friend and former Needlework editor for Craft Gossip said on this subject, “Better not give 6 month clothing at a baby shower, because the parents will probably put it on their newborn.” LOL The logic behind this recommendation is flawed. –Scarlett
Ok, my only is 25 years old, so maybe I missed something, how do you cover a baby? No crib-sized blanket or sheet? I don’t get it.