Babble

At what age is it safe to begin letting an infant sleep with a blanket? I've always been told that it's a strangulation or SIDS hazard and to not use blankets until the kid is in college. My 8 month-old son sleeps very well with his little silky, but his nanny always wants to give him a crib-sized fleece blanket, and I don't know if it's safe. It's not bulky, but can he still smother/strangle/whatever himself? He's very big and strong, although not yet crawling. Thanks for any input. Google is no help.

Although I don't know what the experts recommend, we've been letting our baby sleep with a blanket since about six months.  She's always seemed to have full control of it, pulling it over herself or gathering it in front of her to snuggle.  She quickly became very attached.  She's nine months now and can't sleep without one of her two baby blankets.

I forget now when it was he learned to turn over from back to tummy, but at that point, we figured the risk of SIDS was about over, and put a blanket in with him on cold nights, although he pretty much ignored it. Now at 18 months, he still kicks off any blanket over his feet (just like his mom... I am one of those who likes to sleep with my feet free!!)

Jillian is a total wiggler so blankets don't really work.  She has a small blanket with a bunny-rabbit head that she snuggles with, but as for regular blankets, she pitches them over the side of the crib.  Sleep sacks are the way we deal with it, and those seem to work just fine.  Good thing they come in light-weight and fleece!

I've been letting Jacqueline sleep with a blanket for about a month now(she's 6 months old) and she seems to have full control over it. I only let her sleep with homemade crocheted blankets though because they aren't solid. Somehow all the little spaces in them makes me feel better, like it's less of a suffocation risk. She really doesn't settle down into sleep without having something against the side of her face and the blanket seems to do the trick.

I have been putting my boy in sleep sacks since he was a few months old.  The best I have found are these ones from England www.thedreambag.com They use a Tog rating, which lets you figure out the right one to use in what temperature.  They snap over the shoulder and zip up the side so they can roll around but not get tangled and it cant slip over his head.  I know I sound like a commercial but they really are wonderful! 

No blanket, my daughter is so active a blanket would be useless, she rolls all over the crib, makes no sense and gets in the way and may disrubt sleep if they play with it too much. Shes 5 months