It is vital for everyone, even babies, to have somewhere safe and secure to sleep. I say ‘even babies’ because it is simple to think that babies are not quite conscious, but closer contact makes the observer soon comprehend that babies have a sense of security. For example, they might cry if one stranger approaches and smile if a different one comes near. A bit like animals, they have instincts.
Well, they are animals and so are we adults, so that should not come as much of a revelation either. Babies need warmth and softness and something akin to a nest. Naturally, parents have realized this for thousands of generations and the way we have dealt with that need for thousands of years is by wrapping babies up and laying them in cribs or cots.
In other words somewhere safe and secure. Even though they do not know it, they have a feeling that they are in a walled enclosure where animals cannot see them easily and they cannot drop out of either. a crib or cot allows a baby to sleep comfortably as if it is hidden from danger.
However, as they get older, they become more adventurous, which is precisely why they need ‘walls’ around them, which make them feel safe and frustrated at the same time. This is obviously the time when toddlers are at their most vulnerable, because they want to explore but are not very aware of the dangers of the world. Each parent worries about their children wandering off.
Once a child can walk and climb is the time when it has to be removed from a crib that is off the ground to a safer bed, from which they cannot climb out and fall.
These beds are often called toddlers’ beds, but now the sides have to be high enough for them not to be able to break out of – a type of pen.
Some cribs can be converted and although they may seem more expensive at first, they can be cheaper in the long run.
It is one of the most hazardous times for babies and one of the most nerve-racking times for recent parents as well. Putting the toddler’s pen in the parents’ room is an easy trap to fall into, because it can make the eventual necessary break moving the child from its parents’ room to the nursery all the more a problem when the time eventually comes.
However, that time will come when the child has to sleep in a room of its own either with other siblings or not, but the fact of the matter is that parents have to have their sleep as well so that they are alert enough to both earn money to support their family and be awake enough to watch over their brood.
Owen Jones, the writer of that piece, writes on a number of topics, but is now concerned with the satin baby blankets. If you want to know more, please visit our website at Woollen Blankets.