Home made cloths

I'm expecting a baby in May. A number of my IL's have been very kind and made sweaters and hats for the baby. I suspect these items have been made with older patterns and I have a couple of conserns about them. First some of them have draw strings either around a bonnet type hat or the top of the sweater. Are these safe? Is it safer if they are sewen in place (as some of them are), with only small talls sticking out? I notice that all the baby hats in the stores are tooque style hats not the bonnet like hats. Is this for safety reasons or just the current style. My husband seems more worried about the buttons. He's worried that a baby might suck on them until the fall off and get swallowed. I know buttons are a pain to do up on a squirming infant but are they a saftey hazard?

We have 6 or 7 sweater sets now and I know they have been made with a great deal of love. If possible I'd like to be able to use them but not at the risk of my babies health.

[JElaineB]

Well, I only got one sweater set, made by my grandma for my son. He wore it about 30 minutes for some pictures and that was it. My reasons were 1) it looked too girly, 2) he just didn't wear sweaters! He lived in sleepers for 6 months or so, and I really didn't see how a sweater was necessary on top of that (and he was born in the fall). For you I would also think do you really need sweater sets for a baby born in May? DS outgrew his by 3 months old and he was small. Maybe they won't even fit by the time "sweater weather" rolls around!

I don't know if what you are describing is unsafe, but I was also wary of things like buttons and strings on hats. If they are *drawstrings* then they really shouldn't be used. Those are considered unsafe for small children. If they are sewn in place, they are probably fine, but I still don't like hats like that personally. For buttons, they should be ok if they are very securely sewn on, but I still didn't like them when he was small. If you aren't sure about using them, I would say put your baby in each one for a photo session, then don't worry about it. That way you can share pics with those who made them, but you don't have to use them all the time.

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[Rachels]

I'd say it depends on the baby's age. You can put a newborn in just about anything-- they mainly lie there, and it's a good while until they can maneuver things into their mouths. For an older baby, I'd be much more careful.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[kransden]

Hat styles come and go. Rachel is right, little babies don't move much, so they can't get into much trouble with the buttons etc. My dd wasn't big on putting things in her mouth, except the binky! So buttons weren't a problem. Your child might be different. Basically look at the strings and see if they are long enough to strangle the baby.

Karin and Katie 10/24/02