When to Lower the Crib Mattress

06/26/2017

I searched the internet far and wide for scholarly articles and studies about when is the appropriate time to lower the mattress in your baby’s crib. As we all know, babies go through stages of growth and maturity and we need to roll with the changes.

There is a great deal of literature on cleaning your crib mattress and the risks involved with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome but I wanted to know when was the best time to lower your child’s crib mattress. Very little was found on the subject. So I dug a bit deeper and found out why lowering your baby’s crib mattress is so important.

Cribs can be dangerous

This one piece of furniture is liable for more “infant deaths” than any other object you put in your baby’s nursery. And for this reason it is very important that we mothers watch out for potential dangers in our baby’s bed. We watch their sleep position when they are young so they don’t suffocate and we make sure the crib is free of pillows and any other choking or asphyxiation hazards. When to lower your mattress is just as important.

It’s regulated

Children, when they learn to pull themselves up in their crib, are susceptible to falling out and injuring themselves. According to PubMed.gov, “regulations have set the minimum distance between the top of the mattress…and top of the crib side rail as 26 in.” They go on to claim that these measurements “must include a 6 inch thick mattress.” The intention is to make sure your child is in a crib that is “escape-resistant”.

Their regulations are the result of their own study of 144 children between the ages of one and three years that were watched in their cribs. Every child was less than 35 inches high and a good majority of them “were able to climb from cribs with side rail heights of 26in.” When the side-rails were raised above 26 inches, the children didn’t climb out of bed as frequently.

So when do you lower the crib mattress?

The little information that I found has all been the same, the crib mattress should be lowered “as soon as a child shows signs of pulling herself up to a standing position.” This is when you should adjust the crib mattress to the last setting. This simple modification will have a great affect on whether your child decided to attempt climbing out of his or her crib.

Advice on this also suggests removing bumpers or any padding that is in the crib so the child doesn’t use it for climbing as well.

Whether it’s time to lower the mattress or you are shopping for a stroller, Mommy Connections is dedicated to finding the best information for mommies.