A Personal Blanket Warning
By Renee Ruggiero, Triplet Mom
Originally printed in December 2003

Now that the cold weather is here, I've been reminded of a horrifying experience I had 
last year, and wanted to again, share my story and words of warning.

I had heard warnings about young babies having blankets in their cribs with them.  
Although I usually listen to the warnings I hear, I thought this rule was negotiable.  Being 
a new mom, something inside me always said, "they're cold."  And, I thought, what harm 
could just a thin, light blanket be?  I learned my lesson the hard way.

My trio was down for a nap, and I needed to sneak into the boys room to retrieve a 
cheesecake from this small, second fridge we normally kept for bottles of formula.  The 
minute I got through door, I knew something was terribly wrong.

From John's crib was coming a strange noise.  Like gasping for breath -- choking.  I ran 
to him, only to see his blanket up over his head.  He's done that before -- no biggie -- but 
this time, he had thrown up from his reflux while the blanket was over his face.  Instead 
of the vomit running down the side of his face as it normally would, it hit the blanket and 
made a wet, suffocating mask which he could not remove.  I grabbed him and ran out into 
the light of our living room.  John was a mess.  He had wet vomit all over his face, in his 
eyes, up his nose, and he was having a lot of difficulty breathing.  We cleaned his face 
and made sure his airways were clear.  He was panicked -- his heart racing.  All of a 
sudden in my arms, he started closing his eyes and going limp.  He was so white, he 
looked dead.  No mother should ever have to see her child this way.  We called 911 and 
the EMTs arrived shortly.  They checked John all over and assured me that he was fine.  
His color finally returned and he was back to normal within about 15 minutes.

I made a stupid mistake, one that almost cost me my son.  I never thought of this scenario 
happening when I thought about the blanket warnings.  I never thought about what would 
happen if a blanket got wet.  I never even though about the possibility of a blanket getting 
wet.  It never occurred to me that a little spit-up could turn a seemingly harmless, light 
blanket into a death trap.  Please learn from my mistake and spread the word.  If you are 
worried about your babies being cold, dress them in onesies and let them sleep in sleep 
sacs (Babies R Us has them) or thick, sleeper gowns (much cheaper – I found at 
Burlington Coat Factory).  NO BLANKETS WITH BABIES IN CRIBS!!!