I am a bad mummy....
There are so many ways to endanger an infants' life! That is the conclusion I have come to, at 0230h in the morning... this is the first real scare of my life with regards to this issue...
We usually swaddle Madison and tuck her securely into bed for the night nowadays.. she sleeps well like this.
Tonight was no different, except that all her usual blankets were out in the wash. Chris was on call tonight so I was struggling a little with trying to get her crib ready and prepare her for a bath at the same time. Not being able to get her usual blankets, I scrounged around in the cupboard and found one of her unused new blanket/swaddle cloths to use as a blanket. It was a little stretchy with the lycra embedded cloth but I thought that was fine. I tucked one end in and secured it with the muslin cloth embedded into the cot side.
Then at 0140h I heard her fussing although the baby monitor had yet to pick up her noise. I immediately went into her room and found that she had somehow made her way sideways along the cot and had her face UNDER the blanket! Being a smart baby she was struggling and I hastily threw off the blanket and released her swaddle! I couldn't believe how she could have got under the blanket even though I had tucked her in so tightly! She didn't seem much harmed though and I fed her as if she had just woken for a feed. I thought she might have been gasping a little immediately after I freed her from under the blanket???
I couldn't believe my eyes .. that's how babies SUFFOCATE! And it almost happened to me... I held her just a little tighter during the feed, and swore I would never again ignore safety rules.... they are there for a reason and there is no need for me to test the rules...and the irony was just moments ago I was blissfully ignorant...sigh... how do I keep my little girl from all the harm in the world? So I got rid of the blanket, made and remade her swaddle after that until it was perfect and used only a non stretchable muslin cloth to tuck her feet in. And checked and rechecked the monitor. And repositioned the video camera until I could clearly see her head. And left her door ajar so that I can SEE and HEAR her directly. And of course promptly dropped the monitor with a clang afterwards trying to do everything. Then hoping she wouldn't wake because of my clumsiness!
HOPELESS MOMMY... being a mother is just super tough... how do we stop tripping up time and time again? Its a lucky thing babies are really tough souls!
1 comment:
You must have been terrified! have you heard of sleepsacks? they are like a wearable blanket (like a vest that is closed at the bottom) that is MUCH safer than using a loose blanket to swaddle. They even have ones that have swaddle wings on them you can take off later when the little one doesn't need it. We have tried a bunch of them, but we like halo's the best. halosleep.com One of the best things is you don't have to un swaddle the baby all the way to get the diaper changed (the zipper zips from tip to bottom). Being a mommy is HARD - hang in there - we all make mistakes! check out Halo stuff - I sleep more soundly knowing she can't get caught in her sack like she could a blanket...in fact i heard they were invented by a dad who lost a child to SIDS. Good luck!
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