when can babies start sleeping with a blanket?

Is there a rule of thumb for a timeframe? I just took my son's paci away starting yesterday because he shoved the whole thing in his mouth and gagged pretty badly on it...I hate hearing him scream for it...I think that if I introduce a blanket now, that might be the "something different" that "may" take his mind off of it. He already sleeps with a lovey (bear headed blanket) and he's in a Halo sleep sack.

Just wondering when and if I should give him a blanket? Any other ideas for helping him through the paci withdrawl?

So sad...I feel like such a bad Mommy taking his binkie away, but I need to ensure his safety.

Thanks.

 

I haven't found any hard-and-fast rules about when to introduce a blanket and/or pillow. I gave pillows to my guys at Christmas (16 months old) and put blankets in their cribs this summer (since they were in short jammies and the AC can get cool). If you didn't want to do a blanket, you could get him an age-appropriate stuffed animal to cuddle with (one with no buttons, glass eyes, etc. to choke on) for a comfort item.

You are *not* a bad Mommy!! Safety is really important, and I'm sure he'll get over the loss of the binkie soon. :hug:

 

like Valerie, i haven't been able to find any official recommendations. we gave our girls pillows & blankets at 12 months.

 

What kinda of pillow did you give them? Small travel size pillows? Regular bed pillows? Or stuffed animal pillows like Pillow Pets? Just curious.

 

Well, my nanny made them fleece pillows with poly filling as Christmas gifts. I think they're about 18 inches long by 10 inches wide, and are super puffy (not dense). I think you can buy children's pillows at places like One Step Ahead too.

 

ours are small 12" square pillows - my grandparents bought them for the girls. they've slept with regular adult pillows too though, although they don't like them as much.

 

We introduced blankets around 18 months old and pillows at 24 months. There was no reason why we waited until 24 months, it finally occurred to me and DH that perhaps the kids would like a pillow at that time. I have not seen any hard or fast rules about when to introduce blankets and pillows. My two really like their pillow pets as their pillows.

 

I want to get pillows for my two. I have seen really nice toddler ones at dillyhearts. They are kind of expensive though. I might get them that for their birthday though. What kinds of blankets do they sleep with? We still have the larger baby blankets that we drape over their cribs to block out light and they will sometimes pull them down into their cribs but it isn't like they cover up with them.

 

I just bought pillows for the kids a couple weeks ago. I bought travel type pillows and made covers for them. They don't really use them yet but they are in their beds. As for blankets, mine have had blankets on since birth, and I just recently put toddler sheets/comforter on their beds because they were getting too big to stay under the baby blankets cry

 

I gave my kids blankets at about 11 months. We haven't introduced pillows yet, but will probably get them as Christmas gifts for the kids. They will be almost 2 then.

 

I would even just suggest a fun stuffed animal or small animal head blanket type thing. my dd has a bear w/a 12" blanket attached to it... and she sucks/chews on the bear head... that thing smells bad... and gets washed often, but she loves it! that way you're not worried about suffocation.

 

I asked my pedi about this and she said the AAP rec is nothing in the crib till 2.
That said, our boys have had little 12" square taggie blankets since 9m and they also sleep in Halo sleepsacks. They did OK dropping a paci without adding anything new. If you do a blanket, I'd maybe do a small lovey type blanket since many babies at that age don't keep blankets on themselves well anyway.