Don't Give Your Baby One of These

This is my PSA for the day: If you have a little baby, and if you have any of those security blanket loveys with the heads on them, don't let your baby sleep with it!

We woke up this morning to George crying in a way we've never heard before--a really scary, distressed cry. George had pulled his security blanket over his face and was suffocating on it. The silk lining had suctioned against his nose and mouth and he couldn't pull it off. Nick got to the nursery before I did and said he thought I was doing the nasal aspirator on him because of the sucking noise. George was beet red and so upset, but thankfully calmed down once we picked him up.

I spoke with our pediatrician to double-check that I shouldn't be concerned about any kind of long-term damage, and she told me babies breathe through their noses by default so that they can breathe while they're feeding, and that mouth breathing isn't going to be their first instinct if their nasal passages are blocked. She said the fact that he was red, not purple or blue, is a good sign, and that since he was crying, he was still probably gasping in enough oxygen.

And while I had always heard to wait six months until introducing any loveys in the crib, she also informed me that the current recommendation is actually one year old. I don't always follow all the baby safety "rules" because some of them seem a little alarmist to me, but out that security blanket goes!

We are SO THANKFUL he is okay. Please pass this along to anyone you know with a baby!