The first question that parents often ask when they are considering lowering their crib mattress height is “What’s the best time to lower my crib?” The answer to this question isn’t as straightforward as you might think. It really depends on your child and their current age. For example, if your baby is a newborn it would be best to wait until they’ve reached six months old before lowering the mattress height – but for older toddlers who can climb out of the crib, it may be wise to start sooner. In this article we will provide you with some general guidelines regarding when and how low to go with your crib: 12 questions and useful tips answered!
What is the best time to lower crib?
The first question that parents often ask when they are considering lowering their crib mattress height is “What’s the best time to lower my crib?” The answer to this question isn’t as straightforward as you might think. It really depends on your child and their current age. For example, if your baby is a newborn it would be best to wait until they’ve reached six months old before lowering the mattress height – but for older toddlers who can climb out of the crib, it may be wise to start sooner.
Why should you lower your child's crib?
The second question that parents often ask is “why should I lower my child’s crib?” The answer to this can be broken down into two parts.
- First, it helps prevent injuries from falls – some children end up falling out of their high-sided bed before they are ready for such a big step in their development.
- Second, lowering the mattress lowers the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).
In fact, one study found that infants were half as likely to die from SIDS if they slept in a lowered position versus an elevated one.
Safety tips when lowering the height of the crib
The third question that parents often ask is “What safety tips should I consider when lowering my crib?” There are a few important things to remember.
- First, make sure you always lower the mattress on an even surface – this will prevent your child from rolling or crawling into any gaps between where they sleep and the floor. In fact, it’s best if there isn’t even a gap at all!
- Second, keep in mind that once you’ve lowered your baby’s bed height their ability to get out of it has increased dramatically.
This means that while they might have been okay sleeping with stuffed animals before because they couldn’t climb onto them without help – now those same stuffed friends could be used as potential steps for climbing over the side of the bed.
Lowering a crib is easy – all you need is a screwdriver! Simply unscrew one set of screws from each end rail, slide them down until they meet in front of the mattress, then reinstall with new screws at this new height
The AAP recommends that parents lower their crib mattress to the lowest position when babies are about 1 year old or can stand on their own
As we mentioned earlier, the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) recommends that parents lower their crib mattress to the lowest position when babies are about one year old or have shown signs they are able to climb out of it – whichever comes first! Of course this doesn’t mean you need to rush into lowering your child’s bed height if they aren’t ready for it yet – but it is something you should keep in mind as a goal moving forward. The risks will be much less once your baby reaches 12 months and starts crawling around more often than not.
Lowering the mattress will prevent your toddler from climbing out of the crib and falling onto hard surfaces
We’ve already mentioned how lowering the height of the crib mattress helps prevent falls – but how does this happen? If you think about it, if your baby can’t get up high enough to climb over the side then they won’t ever fall out. This lowers their risk for injury by a ton!
Keep in mind that once you lower your bed heights your child might start climbing out of his or her crib more often than before
This is why we started with talking about how important it is to remove any potential dangers from around where your child sleeps when beginning use at low bed heights. You could have an entire day’s worth of play set-up on one end and still be completely safe – as long as there aren’t any steps for your child to climb up and over.
When lowering your mattress, be sure to measure how far down you need it before cutting off any excess length with scissors.
When can you lower the crib to the lowest setting for your baby?
The AAP recommends that babies be lowered to the lowest setting when they are about one year old or can climb out of their crib.
Parents should never put a pillow in a crib with an infant under 12 months because it could suffocate them.
This means you shouldn’t lower your baby’s bed height until at least this age – and probably not even then if your child isn’t very mobile yet. The risk for falls is just way too high, especially considering how young most children are before they start crawling around on their own!
Lowering the crib to the lowest setting is a great way to make sure your baby sleeps safely and soundly
Lowering the crib mattress to one of it’s lowest settings is a great way to make sure your baby sleeps safely and soundly – especially if you’ve got an active toddler who can climb out. Sure, there are some extra steps involved in keeping their playthings away from where they sleep but these don’t outweigh how important it is for them to stay safe at night! Remember that this isn’t just about preventing falls either – lowering the bed height also minimizes how much space your child could potentially get into mischief by crawling through or getting stuck under sleeping areas like drawers or doors. These things happen more often than most parents realize so do what you need to do today before anything serious happens tomorrow!
What are some signs that show when you should start lowering the crib?
While lowering the mattress is always better than not lowering it, there are some signs that indicate when you should start lowering it. For example: if your child starts crawling and showing interest in climbing out of their crib then this means they might be ready to lower down to a safer bed height! This doesn’t mean you need to rush into lowering them right away – but keep an eye on how well they do at staying inside their space before making any final decisions.
Lower the crib mattress height when you notice that your baby’s head is hitting the top of the railing on his or her crib
Lowering the crib when your baby’s head starts hitting against his or her railing is another sign that it might be time to lower their bed height. This makes sense since when they can stand up in their space then chances are good that they could start climbing out of it too! If you notice this happening, don’t wait around for them to fall – prevent these accidents ahead of time by lowering their mattress heights when needed instead!
The most important thing to remember when lowering the crib mattress height is how much worse accidents can be when you wait around for them.
One of the biggest reasons parents give when asked why they don’t lower their bed height when needed is that it’s too hard or difficult to do so. If this sounds like something you have in common, then just keep reading solutions to sleep concerns (12) – toddlers 1 to 3 years! As long as your child doesn’t fall out when standing up on his or her own yet – there are some great ways to make lowering their space easier without any extra work at all.
How to prevent your toddler from climbing out of crib?
Another common approach parents use to make lowering the bed height easier can be done at any time without even investing in anything else: add some padding around the edges where your child plays or sleeps inside his or her room. If they’re going to climb up towards the top then this means their legs might bump against sharp corners when trying so giving them something soft that does it for ’em makes sense, right? Always think about how many things could go wrong before an accident happens rather than after it already has because this is how you help your child stay safe and sound at all times. If you want some additional help with deciding whether or not your toddler might be ready for lower bed heights then check out our article “Crib Safety Tips?”
If you really, truly want your baby’s space lowered as much as possible without investing hours upon hours into how it should be done then look no further than finding ways around how difficult it might otherwise seem! In most cases, all you need are some basic skills and common household items lying around to create safety nets for your child while also making sure they get just enough room to move about freely.
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