5 Crib Hazards I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me About + Levana Baby Monitor Giveaway!

Disclosure: I was chosen and compensated for this post by TapInfluence. All opinions and reviews are 100% mine.

If you have little kids (or grand-kids) sleeping in cribs in your home, today’s post will be a good one for you!  Today I’m sharing a few crib hazards that you may not be aware of. I’m also co-hosting a giveaway. Some lucky reader will win a brand-new, state-of-the-art wireless and digital video monitor to keep a close eye on their precious ones!

If you would have asked me about “crib hazards” right after I had my firstborn, I would have looked at you with a terrified, confused stare. Crib hazards?? Oh, no! What kind of hazards ARE there in the crib?!? I have no idea. 

I was pretty clueless as a new parent. I still laugh when I think about this: I called my sister the first day home from the hospital and asked, “Jenny, Sam just fell asleep WITH HIS PACIFIER IN HIS MOUTH!! Do I take it out??? Will he choke???”

Fortunately my sister was a slightly-more-wise new parent than I was, and advised me that I could, indeed, leave the pacifier in a sleeping baby’s mouth. Ha!

As I’ve progressed in my parenting journey, there are a few actual hazards/dangers that I’ve become aware of in a baby’s crib. Not that we all need to be paranoid about these things, but it’s good to keep in mind what others have experienced. That’s how we learn!

Here are a few things to keep an eye out for:

1. The mobile – When my little Sam was a baby, he was taking a nap when I heard a giant crash in his room. TERRIFIED, I rushed up and his mobile had become detached from the crib, and had landed on the mattress! Fortunately, he wasn’t hurt, just startled. I was very glad I hadn’t placed him directly UNDER the mobile. The top part had just snapped right off! SAFETY TIP: Now out of habit, I place my babies kind of to the side of any overhead mobile.
2. The pajamas – I know, right?! Clothing should be safe at least, right?! No worries – mostly, it is! 🙂 But my second son had a second-hand pair of pajamas, with a button tab on the top (the kind that snaps over the zipper so the zipper doesn’t scratch them). Well, one day the snap button came right off the pajamas! I found it on the floor of his nursery! SAFETY TIP: Now when I’m doing laundry, I’ll just give a quick once-over to my baby’s sleepers and make sure the buttons are still in good condition.
3. The mattress – Not to be dramatic, but it’s true that generic mattresses (cribs included!) can contain harmful chemicals, fumes, plastics, just lots of things that have dubious safety levels, especially considering how much time our little ones spend there! SAFETY TIP: There are of course “organic” or “safe” mattress options, but another super-simple and inexpensive solution is to buy a crib-wrap. It’s basically a big sheet of safe plastic that goes UNDER the sheet, to provide a barrier for unwanted contaminants in the mattress itself. These are between $25-50 and worth the cost in my opinion!
4. The pacifier – I will never forget coming up to my son’s room one time, picking up the pacifier, and the plastic nipple part was hanging by a very small shred of plastic, about to become detached from the base! It had just about come apart in his mouth! I was so grateful I saw it. SAFETY TIP: Check them often, replace often.

Of course as moms we’d like to prevent every possible danger from entering our little one’s cribs, but we can’t. That’s why in addition to a nicely hefty dose of trust, I do love having a video monitor. I can’t imagine what moms did without one!

Recently I reviewed the Levana Baby Monitor. I was extremely impressed with this monitor, and would recommend it to anyone. All Levana Movement monitors are digital and wireless, eliminating the risk of cord strangulation. Yes, even the “baby” unit has a battery, so no cords! I love the ClearVu digital wireless technology (which is a fancy way of saying secure digital – others can be hacked, and strangers can see your baby!)

Unlike many other monitor companies, Levana exclusively manufactures baby monitors, so they can perfect the product they sell.

I have owned a total of three different video monitors, and so far the Levana Ayden Video Monitor is my clear favorite. The hardware is nice-looking and sturdy. Some of the others had random parts that were chincy and would snap or crack. I was shocked at the clarity of the image, too. It has a baby lullaby setting, a talk-to-baby setting, but my favorite option is the moveable camera! No more wondering what baby is doing on the far side of the crib!

To be honest, when I received the Levana Ayden Monitor to review, I absolutely loved it and thought for sure it would noticeably more expensive than the other monitors on the market.  It’s not! If you want a high-tech, good-quality, safe and secure video monitor to keep an eye on the little ones you love, I would absolutely say to purchase the Levana Ayden Baby Video Monitor.

As promised, I’m co-hosting a giveaway for a Levana Ayden Monitor, as well!

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