For the first six months, newborn babies sleep 14-18 hours per day. SIDS – the terrifying acronym for new parents is the sudden, unexpected and unexplainable death of a child under the age of 1. The vast majority of SIDS deaths happen to babies who are under the age of six months. This is why we make the BabyCrate, to ensure that your baby can sleep in the very best possible environment that addresses the factors contributing to SIDS during the most crucial first months.

Firm, flat Surface

Your baby should sleep on a firm, flat surface at all times. If your baby sleeps in a car seat or an armchair it could impede optimal breathing. If the pad is too soft it could cause future issues with posture and even cause suffocation once your baby can roll over.
The BabyCrate comes with a very high-quality 100% natural Latex mattress pad to ensure optimal firmness in a safe, cozy space without toxic off gassing.

Back sleep position

No ifs and buts: your baby should sleep on their back at all times. The increasingly common back sleep position is considered one of the main reasons for the reduction in SIDS in recent years.
When your baby is awake, however, tummy time is crucial to train your baby’s neck and avoid continuous pressure on the same spot of your baby’s head, potentially leading to flat head syndrome.

All-Natural and organic

Chemical compounds common in crib mattresses, especially flame retardants such as phosphorus, arsenic and antimony are thought to be one of the main causes of SIDS today. The latex mattress pad in the BabyCrate is 100% natural, made using the traditional Dunlop process without any chemicals or pesticides and covered in a pure organic cotton mattress cover and sheets. Latex is also naturally fungus and dust-mite resistant, so you can be sure to be offering your baby the very best all-natural bedding possible.

Certified Safe

Our BabyCrate is certified according to the requirements of the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission and the materials used are certified chemical safe according to US and European Norms.

Allergies

Some proteins in organic latex are similar to food proteins such as: bananas, avocados, chestnuts, kiwi, and tomatoes. These are known to potentially cause allergies when touched or ingested. Although Latex allergies are common when touching items such as Latex gloves, balloons or products such as condoms that come in to direct contact with the body, our thick organic cotton mattress covers and sheets ensure that no such contact is made. Our 100 percent organic latex manufacturing process also helps prevent allergies. We use gallons of clean drinkable quality water in the final wash to remove residual free proteins from our pads and to minimize the potential for allergies.

Even though we have made the BabyCrate as practical as possible so that your newborn can have a safe sleep space wherever you go, you remain the most important factor. Avoid the temptation of sleeping in a bed with your baby after breastfeeding or allowing your baby to sleep on the sofa during the day and always keep your BabyCrate in a well-ventilated, smoke-free space.

We know its a lot to consider, so why have it more difficult than it needs to be?

With a BabyCrate, not only can your baby sleep safe, but you will not have to worry about the sleep space of your infant anymore.

Further reading:

SIDS and Other Sleep-Related Infant Deaths: Updated 2016 Recommendations for a Safe Infant Sleeping Environment

Newborn Babies don’t have their own immune system, and instead rely on their mothers’ immune system to give them immunity. This immunity is only temporary and starts to decrease after the first few weeks and months by which time they must develop their own immune system. Unfortunately, not all babies develop an entirely healthy immune system and there has been a marked increase in the prevalence of allergies among kids in recent years.

Hygiene

Whilst it is important to keep your child in a clean environment there is a case to be made that today’s homes are in fact too clean, and do not give sufficient exposure to bacteria that your baby needs to be confronted with in order to develop a healthy immune system. This can be illustrated by the fact that children who grow up on farms, who have older siblings or pets such as dogs are less likely to develop allergies. Generally, your child needs to develop and train his or her immune system and going to daycare or being exposed to lots of different bugs that come from eating sand in the sandpit or hugging a dog may in fact be a good idea. It is definitely not a good idea to completely shield your baby from all potential sources of dirt. Although our understanding of the exact mechanisms and the optimal exposure to bacteria is still limited, we do know that we are living today in much cleaner environments than those in which our human immune systems developed.

One common product that should generally be avoided is antibacterial soap and other antibacterial cleaning agents. Not only do they undermine and damage the development of your baby’s immune system, they are often toxic.

Allergens

Current advice on allergies is somewhat counterintuitive for many parents in that early exposure to known allergens such as fish, nuts and eggs may in fact be beneficial to reducing the likelihood of relevant allergies. The guidelines, published in the January 2013 issue of The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, are in line with the American Academy of Pediatrics’ current recommendations on the exposure of infants to high-risk foods, adding information on when to add these foods to your babies diet.

Helpful tips on how to best introduce your baby to potentially allergenic foods include:

• The initial taste of one of these foods should be given at home, rather than at day care or at a restaurant.
• Parents should note that for some foods, such as peanuts, most reactions occur in response to what is believed to be the initial ingestion.
• If there is no apparent reaction, the food can be introduced in gradually increasing amounts.

The most common symptoms of food allergies in a baby are vomiting, diarrhea, gassiness, and skin rash. Should your child exhibit any of these symptoms after being exposed to a potential allergen, consult your doctor.If your baby has been diagnosed with an allergy, it is certainly advisable to eliminate exposure to the allergens as much as possible.

Man-made Toxins and pollution

One thing that certainly should be avoided or minimized is exposure to man-made environmental toxins and pollution. For example, living close to busy roads with large amounts of Diesel trucks passing through has been conclusively linked to higher rates of Asthma.

In some cases, human intervention designed to keep us safe actually has the opposite effect. Fire retardants in mattresses, which are still a legal requirement in some jurisdictions, are linked to toxic off-gassing, which can expose you or your baby to known carcinogens. Obviously, you shouldn’t smoke anywhere near your babies mattress anyway so it is likely that such regulations cause more harm than good. Generally, many oil based foams and synthetic fabrics carry the potential risk of exposing your baby to an elevated risk of damaging their fragile bodies. As it is difficult to assess exactly how damaging the exposure to heightened levels of man-made chemical compounds and materials actually is, we suggest using all-natural products as much as possible.

BabyCrate strives to eliminate the use of chemicals and toxic materials. The BabyCrate is made of all-natural wooden pine and is lightly treated with a baby-safe water-based coating. The mattress pad is pure, firm, 100% natural Latex covered with thick organic cotton. We also provide super soft organic cotton sheets, for easy cleaning. All our textiles are organic and none of our products use any man-made plastics or foams. We believe this approach can go a long way to keeping your baby safe.

Click here to learn more about how the BabyCrate can keep your baby safe.