Picking the Perfect Fabric for Your Infant Bedding
Girl baby bedding: pink and frilly. Boy baby bedding: baseball or football. But wait! Choosing baby bedding is about more than just a fashion statement.
You or your family members may have allergies to certain fabrics, so you avoid those, but your new baby doesn’t come with a list of its allergies. So choose the bedding material first and then worry about your nursery’s theme. Any decent nursery bedding should list some vital facts - namely, cover fabric, fill material, fill power (higher is better), and thread count (again, higher is better). The most important things to keep in mind are that the bedding should be lightweight, it should be warm, and it should be breathable. All the information you need should be available online, so take the time to research different baby bedding options.
To reduce the chances of sensitivities, try fabrics like wool, cotton, or down. Although some synthetic fabrics are breathable, most are not. Of equal concern is the emission of fumes that can occur as the fabrics age. If you are leaning toward a crib set such as the Max baby bedding, that contains some amount of a synthetic fabric (polyester), but mostly cotton - then you need to think about how much you want the bedding vs. how much this small amount of polyester could cause a problem.
Wool is a great choice for a baby blanket - it’s both soft and comfortable. Choose unbleached or organic cotton flannel as the backing for a wool blanket. Choose your blanket size based on usage - small blankets for swaddling and big blankets for car trips or daycare.
Because down is a natural material, it provides warmth while remaining light and breathable at the same time. Babies and messes go together like jam and peanut butter, so be sure to get one that can be washed in the machine. To ensure that your comforter is hypoallergenic, make sure it has a high cleanliness rating. There are two tests to determine the cleanliness of down - the oxygen test and the turbidity test. A lower number is preferred for the oxygen test, and it should go no higher than 10 (the government standard). For the turbidity test, on the other hand, a higher number is better, going up to around 550 at the top of the scale.
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