Blankets in cribs during day care tours?
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Anonymous
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This is somewhat similar to the previous poster's question about a quilt in a crib. I am a FTM in DC and have toured more than licensed 10 centers so far looking for infant care. I am very familiar with the guidelines centers should be following to prevent SIDS--no crib bumpers, soft toys inside or hanging on the crib, only a fitted sheet, baby in a sleep sack, no blankets in the crib, and baby placed on back to sleep (and I know older infants may flip over during sleep which is ok). I know NAEYC Accredited centers require the SIDS policy, but I do not know what DC licensing requires.
So all that said, I was shocked to see in at least half the centers I toured there was stuff in the crib. Either soft toys in or attached to empty cribs, or boppies, or most common, sleeping babies with loose blankets in cribs (not tucked around them) sleeping face down. Now I get that older babies may have flipped, but I saw blankets in a little less than half the centers. When I asked about their SIDS policy, they all said they had them. When I asked about the blankets, I got different reactions. Some centers said their parents had to sign a waiver to have a blanket for their baby. Another center director went over to talk to her staff about it (awkward). Another said older infants could have them. So I'm trying to figure out--is this a big deal? I also saw in a few programs babies propped up on boppies feeding themselves bottles, which I was not sure about either. I am not trying to be neurotic but I don't want to send our baby somewhere unsafe. Should I be concerned about these things? |
Anonymous
| Anyone? |
Anonymous
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Yes, they will prop kids on Boppies to feed.
You don't have to provide a blanket. At ours, you can use a sleepsack or a blanket. Those who don't like sleepsacks generally use the light Aden and Anais blankets. |
Anonymous
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I think its a big deal. My son attended a NAEYC certified center in Howard County that was / is highly rated.
They did this with other babies (blankets). One day I went to pick him up and he was face down in the crib, prior to being able to roll. They insisted he'd rolled on his own, but I am 99% certain (b/c I can never be 100%) that he was put down on his stomach. I didn't send him back after that b/c I felt it was an indicator that they weren't following safe sleep practices. I don't know what to say other than I think this is a real issue, and as you pointed out its not limited to unlicensed / low quality places. If I'm going to go to all the trouble to have a safe sleeping environment at home, there better be one at daycare too. |
Anonymous
Did you report it? |
Anonymous
No- in hindsight I wish I had, but at the time they INSISTED I was wrong and he must have rolled for the first time (he didn't for weeks after that and never had prior to that). I really got into it with them. I am now at another center and am more happy with the level of oversight that their office provides. |
Anonymous
I'm the OP. To clarify, I'm asking if others would be concerned if they saw blankets in infant cribs which goes against recommendations of AAP and NAEYC from what I can tell. |
Anonymous
| Be very concerned. If they don't follow the rules (whether from not knowing or not caring about them) right in front of you, imagine what is happening behind your back. I work in a NAEYC accredited center and we use sleep sacks or nothing. No bottle propping, ever. It sounds like the child was lounging in a boppy vs the bottle being propped. I'd still not be crazy about that either, though. I think babies should be held while drinking bottles. |
Anonymous
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Well, as the director of a DC center with infants through preschool, my LICENSOR insisted the infants were cold and cited me for not having blankets on all of them! They were not cold, the room was comfortable, but some 9-12 month olds were sleeping on their tummies with their legs drawn under them (like many babies that age do) and she insisted they were cold.
So. I had a problem. Because heretofore we hadn't allowed blankets unless parents signed permission for them.... blah blah. So I more or less had to require parents to bring in blankets so I could get my license renewed? Yeah, no. We wrote something like "Center shall ensure that children provide a sleepsack or blanket for all children. When using a blanket, parents must sign permission for their child to have a sleep sack or blanket in the crib. All blankets, when used, will be tucked into 3 sides and only go as high as the baby's armpit." And I started pushing hard for sleepsacks - where before I'd let parents decide if they wanted to bring something or not. So, we had a many more sleep sacks brought in, no additional blankets, but because of that form I could get my license. I LOVE OSSE! 
Here's the thing: 1. yes, babies may be placed on boppies while they hold their own bottle - this keeps them from lying flat and having milk go into their ears. We try to hold them, and all of them get held for most of their bottles, but you can't hold all the babies at every bottle feed and change all the children you need to, put all the babies down who need it right then, and feed all the older children table foods when they need to. Something must give. So sometimes babies lie on a boppy. Or two babies each lie on a boppy but the teacher is right there, holding the bottles and talking to them, but couldn't feed two at a time in her lap. And for very young babies, they need to be fed when they need to be fed. BUT they should NOT have their bottle propped for them at all, so newborns aren't on boppies - our teachers feed them. And so the babies who use boppies are those who can feed themselves, about 7-12 months of age (some start later, depends on when baby can do it - those using glass bottles start later because glass bottles are heavy). 2. boppies are sometimes stored in cribs if no baby is using one, because that way there is more space for babies to crawl and move around on the rug. So seeing one or two in the cribs doesn't mean they are used in the cribs. You're right, they should NOT be used in the cribs at all. Ever. Period. No excuses, even if a baby has reflux and needs to be elevated. Tough, we can't do that. So.... ask open ended questions - when do they use boppies? How do you use boppies? Sometimes our young babies are placed on a boppy as another position in the classroom - sometimes in arms, sometimes on their backs in the nest, sometimes doing tummy time (with an adult there), sometimes sitting up with a boppy around them in case they tipped over.... sometimes while feedng themselves a bottle. Mostly our teachers would stick the boppies over the side of a crib to store them when not in use and a baby isn't in that crib, not placed in the crib, because we don't want germs from boppy to crib and vice versa. 3. Yes, it matters that teachers/centers are following the SIDS reccommendations, which means no stuffed animals, no bumpers, no soft items underneath baby, and sleep sack or blanket if tucked in. And PLACED ON THEIR BACKS - the baby may roll over once they know how to. Honestly, while we are supposed to place all babies on their backs, it's darned hard to place a 12 month old on their back - as you lift them into the crib, they dive for the mattress, face first to snuggle in. Or they stand up and chat until they lie down on their own to sleep. But for a 6 or 7 month old, my teachers were trained to put into the crib on their back, and then we knew they'd roll over. And if they had a blanket, the teachers would then put it on, but honestly 99% of our babies were in swaddles at the beginning, then sleepsacks after that. Or sleepsacks from the beginning. 4. You'd be amazed how many parents wanted soft stuffed animals in the crib - or Sofie the giraffe! - insisting that would help them sleep better. Especially those stuffed animals attached to pacifiers or the taggie loveys. And I had to be the bad guy and not allow it until the child was 12 months of age, and then only with a signed permission slip. Sometimes I felt like all our infant parents did was sign permission slips! (because we also need one for sunscreen, diaper cream, mosquito repellent, orajel, etc even though those are topical) |
Anonymous
| My center allows parent-provided blankets or sleepsacks, but they make you sign a waiver and each crib has a sign over it with the baby's name, photo, and a statement if they have a waiver for something. I've never seen stuffed animals in the cribs. |
Anonymous
+1. |
Anonymous
| I think it's a big deal and would ask about it on tour. At my NAEYC-accredited center there are no blankets in the cribs. I think you can bring in a sleepsack, but I haven't and haven't seen any of the other infants in them either. It's warm enough in the room. I would not send my child to a center where I questioned their practices, and, in fact, pulled my older child from another center when, among other things, she came home with her diaper area covered in thick, smelly cream that wasn't ours and no one could say what it was. That was just one of many issues; the center also had issues with communication and sanitizing. |
Anonymous
It may be the babies sleep at home on their tummy, and parents stipulated they sleep that way there. Pretty difficult to force a baby to sleep on their back if they haven't done that. Hard to say in this situation, but I do know many are ok with tummy sleeping. You have to do what you are comfortable with. Continue to talk to directors, or look into a nanny or home daycare. |
Anonymous
+1 That way the child is going to have a smoother transition going to daycare. |
Anonymous
| The daycare where I drop my son doesn't use blanket.although it is against the law but some parents do ask the day care centre people for the blankets. |