Bedding Tips

The experience of having a newborn in the house is always a daunting time, especially for first timers. Parents worry about every tiny detail, such as getting the right clothes and choosing the right milk. Perhaps the most important decision when caring for your newborn is buying them the right bedding. To enable the best chance of you and your newborn getting a decent night’s sleep you have to take into consideration several areas.

Safety of baby

The safety of your child is by far the most important issue to consider when buying their bedding. The prospect of losing their child to cot death prays on every parents’ mind and we must do everything in our power to guard against it. In order to avoid suffocation you should consider investing in grobags, which are sleeping bags with dungaree style shoulder straps. The baby cannot wriggle further into the sleeping bag because their head and arms are outside of it and restricted by the straps. Another alternative is using cellular blankets, which are woven with big gaps and allow the baby to breath even if their head ends up below the blanket.

Comfort

Ensuring that your baby’s bed linen is comfortable is imperative if they are to sleep well. There is no specific material that will offer the best comfort, but choose one that feels very soft to your touch. Newborns have especially sensitive skin, so if something feels a little coarse to you then it will feel even more so to your baby.

Warmth in the night

Obviously being snug in bed is important for all of us being able to sleep properly. However, be careful not to add too much bedding to your baby’s cot. If your baby gets too cold during the night they will let you know by crying, but babies that get too hot are at risk of cot death as they often don’t wake up. The best way of ensuring the right temperature for your baby is to add or remove cellular blankets as appropriate, which can be done irrespective of whether or not they are in a grobag.

With your new mattress, and matching sheets your bed looks and feels great – so do you need a mattress cover? Wouldn’t getting one just mean more expense and hassle when changing your bedding? Simply put; mattress covers should be used on all beds.

Protection from grime

The mattress cover’s main purpose is to protect the mattress. Some dirt will transfer from your body to your sheets, no matter how often you wash or how clean you are. A bottom sheet will offer some protection to the bedding, but some of the grime will find its way onto your mattress causing discolouring. The extra layer offered by a mattress cover makes it much more unlikely that any dirt will get through.

Messy children

All children will spend a lot of time in their bedrooms and more so teenagers trying to get as far away from their parents as possible. More than likely they and their friends will sit on their beds eating and drinking and invariably spillages will take place. Offering that extra layer of protection, a mattress cover can again protect against the food or drink reaching the mattress.

For children of a younger age there is always the possibility of bed wetting during the night Until they are a little older and have grown out of this stage then waterproof mattress covers can be of great assistance.

The comfort option

Another reason for buying a mattress cover, which you may not have considered, is that of comfort. With padded alternatives now available it is possible to add extra comfort to your bed, which can be a cheap option if you have a mattress in good condition but that is a little bit uncomfortable.

Whatever your need for a mattress cover, do not underestimate just how useful they are. Mattresses do not come cheap and the use of a mattress cover in your bedding can really increase the longevity of it.

Most of us enjoy a nice slow paced holiday where we can chill out and be pampered. But more and more of us are now also going on less traditional holidays. The travelling bug is biting not only students on gap years, but also those in employment who choose to take a sabbatical. On these extended trips, unless we are wealthy and can afford to stay at the best hotels, we are likely to find ourselves roughing it a bit – which is all part of the experience. This makes bed linen one of the most important items that you can take on your travels with you, if a little unexciting.

Cleanliness of hotels

Trying to make you money last is key to prolonging your trip as long as possible and as a result you are going to end up staying in some low standard hotels and huts. Often you will find an area that is below what you have come to expect is that of the bed linen. This is where a thin cotton sleeping bag can come in useful. Whether you choose to sleep on top of the provided bedding, or beneath it for warmth, you can sleep inside your cotton sleeping bag to avoid contact with it.

Temperature

When travelling in countries that are hot you may find that the locals use and provide you with a bedding that is thicker than what you need. Your cotton sleeping bag will be ideal in these circumstances, giving you just the right amount of heat.

Comfort

If you find yourself exploring areas of a high altitude you will find that the temperature drops dramatically during the night. Wherever you are staying you are likely to find thick warm blankets, however more often than not they will be of a coarse material. Sleeping under the blankets, but inside your own bed linen, will avoid contact with the rough fabric affording you a comfortable night’s sleep.