Another Way to Use the Crib Bumper

In the past, there's been much discussion about safety and the use of bumpers in the crib here at Ohdeedoh. Crib bedding sold in sets includes crib bumpers, but how do incorporate them into the nursery?

Think outside the box...literally. Instead of affixing the bumper along the inside of the crib, tie the bumper to the outside railings for a decorative look. We really like this idea because it allows us to use the bumper and inject more color into the nursery safely. It also helps hide the bottom of the crib mattress. We know this might not work for all cribs (the IKEA Gulliver is shown here). Also, since the outside perimeter of the crib is larger than the inside, the bumper most likely won't reach all the way around the entire crib.

Do you like this look?

(Image: FiaFour Via Spearmint Baby)

Comments (10)

Actually, most child safety orgs say using crib bumpers (the traditional way) is unsafe - including American Academy of Pediatrics, Health Canada, National Center for Health and Safety in Child Care, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the First Candle/National SIDS Alliance.

The major reason they are recommended against is because there is a suffocation/SIDS risk. The only type of bumper that does not contribute a risk of SIDS is breathable mesh bumpers (which are not usually very attractive). Once the baby outgrows the age-based risk of SIDS, the bumpers become hazardous for another reason - they can use it as a foothold to climb out of the crib.

I think bumper-free cribs are perfectly attractive, but this outside the crib option is a cute alternative to a crib skirt (unless you have a dropside crib - which is also starting to be considered a safety risk).

My son chewed on the top crib rails when he started teething so I tied it to the top part of the crib and it stopped my little beaver immediately. Now that he likes to jump and bounce around the crib, a little extra padding at head height is a good thing.

Ugh. This looks like a mistake, not a clever solution.

And when the baby grows and the matress needs to be dropped down, you've got the same SIDS/foothold issues whether the bumper is inside or outside the rails.

I still like the idea of using the bumper to make a pad for the fireplace like in this earlier post. Or to pad a sharp corner on a table or something.

And you can always use it as decoration on the windows . . .

Or you could just buy crib sheets separately. Then you're not paying for something you might not want to use.

The bedding set I found was exactly what I was looking for, and they didn't sell the pieces separately (other than extra crib sheets). But in order to get the crib skirt, changing pad cover, diaper stacker, etc., I had to buy the whole deal, bumper included. It's incredibly pillow-y, so it lives in a closet. I was thinking of making some throw pillows from it, or possibly a big floor pillow. Any other ideas?

This doesn't look too bad---kind of like an upholstered bed. But currently our crib mattress is in the lowest position, so this wouldn't work anymore.

i like it. our crib has the changing table attached to the side so it wont work for our current one. but i am prego again perhaps the handme down crib were getting will work with this application of the bumper!!!!

I think it is trying too hard.

We need to get over the cute baby bedding obsession (although retailers don't want us to). There are other ways of putting together a nursery than decorating with expensive sheet sets -- it is all a marketing ploy to get us to buy products we really don't need.

I agree with with everything robinm wrote, and have to disagree with Mary Peyton very strongly -- the most recent exhaustive study on crib bumpers stated definitively that there were NO safe crib bumpers, and really no way to make crib bumpers safe.

I like it a lot, nice idea.
thx!