When my firstborn arrived, the visions of my "dream" baby were long gone once we came home from the hospital and he screamed all night. He did not want to go to sleep, and insisted that someone hold him all night long. Standing up. The minute we'd try to sit down, he somehow knew it and the screaming commenced- even if he was half asleep! Needless to say, we did everything and anything we could do to get him to go (and stay!) asleep for even an hour at a time. We quickly figured out that he hated sleeping on his back, and we had to place him on his stomach.
The FEAR! We were told over and over not to do this. I immediately started searching on the internet for a loophole in the "Back to Sleep" campaign. This was over 3 years ago, and I was new at the internet and just couldn't find the information I was looking for. I found story after story of families who had lost their babies to SIDS. No explanation. It just happened. Our pediatrician did make me feel better when she told me, "hey, he's healthy, very strong, a good size (over 95th percentile) baby...he should be fine sleeping on his stomach." I quickly took her word, forgetting all the pictures I had just seen of healthy looking, even plump babies that had died of SIDS.
We survived the first year, and after about 6 weeks my son even stopped crying as much. Nineteen months after my firstborn, my daughter came into the world. She was a wonderful sleeper; slept through the night at four weeks, and nursed like a pro. I was in heaven this time! And big brother was wonderful. But when my sweet Anna was around 6 months old (you can see her at 6 months above) without even searching I stumbled across some startling information about SIDS. After reading everything I could on this subject, I looked for more information. I HAD to have one of these BabeSafe mattress covers! Right then and there, I ordered mine from Dr TJ Sprott in New Zealand. I did not sleep soundly until it arrived about 5-6 days later.
It did not take me long to be outraged that just two years earlier, I could not find this information on the internet! I was already selling cloth diapers, and I quickly made the decision to sell the mattress covers as well, by telling everyone I know about them and promoting the toxic gas theory to parents who will not learn about it from their pediatricians (a whole other can of worms...)
While I was adamant that all parents should use a BabeSafe cover to protect their babies from SIDS/crib death, many parents I came into contact with were skeptical. When I was introduced to an article by Dr. David Denton Davis, it made even more sense that our babies shouldn't be sleeping on old mattresses anyway, unless we protected them from what lingers inside. The BabeSafe mattress cover does that as well. Whether you want to protect your baby from crib death, or just want to provide a clean sleeping surface for your baby, the BabeSafe cover is a great idea.
I hope that reading this will help you sleep better at night and dissipate the fear you have regarding SIDS. While it is rare, it does happen, and this easy solution just makes sense. If you haven't clicked on any of the links above for more information, please do so now! It will provide answers to any questions you might have.
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