Crib Bedding
Most parents want to find the softest crib bedding imaginable to put next to their baby’s skin. Luckily there is a vast array of soft, luxurious, and cozy crib bedding available. There is an incredible selection of colors, patterns, and themes to choose from, including pastels, muted fall tones, polka dot or gingham, and various themes.
You want your crib bedding to be soft and cozy for your baby. Look for 100% cotton, in percale, jersey knit, or flannel, with a minimum 200 thread count. This will ensure your crib bedding will last you a long time and will only get softer with each wash. If you want your baby to lie in the lap of luxury, you can find it! Look for 100% Egyptian cotton Matelasse quilts and silky 320-thread count sheets for top of the line quality.
Typically, crib bedding should be preshrunk, colorfast, and machine washable. This will ensure your crib bedding will always fit your crib mattress and won’t run in the wash and discolor other fabrics.
Crib bedding sets are sold in 3, 4, 5, or 6 piece sets. A typical crib bedding set includes:- a fitted sheet with reinforced corners which stretches to fit standard sized crib mattresses to ensure a snug fit.
- a blanket or flat sheet of light-weight cotton to place over your baby on warm nights.
- a quilt or comforter to keep your baby warm on cold nights.
- a dust ruffle that fits under the mattress and hangs to the floor to hide the space underneath the crib.
- a set of crib bumpers to secure around the inside edge of the crib to protect your baby from the slats or spindles.
- a hanging diaper stacker to store your diapers in a coordinating fabric container
- wallpaper border in a coordinating pattern
- a matching window valance to decorate the top of the nursery’s window and to cover any unsightly curtain rod or blind fasteners
- a pillow.
Many manufacturers and retailers offer a “create your own design” which allows you to mix and match your fabrics and colors. Custom bedding lets you customize your crib bedding to match your nursery perfectly. Custom bedding sets typically take 6-8 weeks for delivery, so if you want to go the custom route, you should order well in advance! Specialty crib bedding such as bedding for round cribs or corner cribs may require ordering directly from the manufacturer or a specialty retailer.
A nursery needs checklist is a good reference to have when organizing what you need to buy for your nursery and how many of each item you should have tucked away in your linen cupboard. You don’t want to be doing laundry everyday, so having at least 4 sets of sheets will keep you out of the laundry room for at least an extra day or two.
Changing sheets in the middle of the night is not any parent’s idea of a good time, especially when you are half-awake in a dark nursery. Many parents keep a large stock of mini waterproof mattress pads or receiving blankets to place on top of the fitted sheet. When your baby spits up, drools, or sweats during the night, only the mattress pad needs to be replaced. This saves you from changing the entire crib bedding set which involves removing the bumper guards and lifting up the mattress.
