Designing the nursery and shopping for bedding is one of the many pleasures of planning for a new baby. Although tucking your little one in with a comforter that coordinates perfectly with the rest of the room's decor seems like a set up for sweet dreams, blankets and other bedding aren't safe for use in the crib.

"Any kind of blanket, quilt or cover in the baby's crib increases the risk of suffocation and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)," says Laura Reno, director of public affairs for First Candle/SIDS Alliance. "Our goal is to get all those things out of the crib."

SIDS is the leading cause of death in infants 1 month to 1 year old, according to First Candle/SIDS Alliance. And although health care professionals don't know all the reasons for this mysterious problem, they do know that eliminating bedding and other soft materials from the crib is one way to help reduce the risk.

"We don't want anything in the crib," says Betty McIntire, executive director of the American SIDS Institute. "We say a bare bed, meaning absolutely nothing in the bed but the baby, the clothing he's wearing and a fitted sheet."

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