Child’s Sleep Solution – The Right Sleepwear
Ideally, your child should sleep in a pair of 100 percent cotton pajmas or nightshirt, or in the nude. Your child’s personal preferences, your family tradition, or weather conditions will determine what is most appropriate at any given time of year.
The most important thing is that sleepwear should be clean, comfortable, and nonrestricting, yet not so billowy that a child could get tangled up and risk suffocation. Because infants do not yet have the muscle power or coordination to free themselves from clothing constrictions, form-fitting sleepers or nudity (with diaper if necessary) would seem to be among the right choices.
This is not the place to address in detail the tremendous controversy over the question of fire safety and children’s sleepwear, but a few words are in order. Out of fear of fire, some parents have been encouraged to put their children in sleepwear that is advertised as being flame retardant. In fact, the government requires that newly manufactured garments designated and sold as children’s sleepwear should be both flame retardant and self-extinguishing.
The government, however, does not compel parents to dress their children in these sorts of garments. Most flame-retardant sleep garments are made of polyester that has been treated with flame retardant chemicals, such as Tris (tris [2,3dibromopropyl phosphate or tris [2-chloroethyl phosphate).
Unfortunately, this chemical is carcinogenic. It can be absorbed through the skin or through the mouth if a child sucks or chews on a piece of a fabric treated with this chemical. There are also tremendous disadvantages to artificial fibers, which are uncomfortable and hot. Against the skin, they cause the body to sweat but not allow the sweat to evaporate. These conditions will only aggravate your child, promote unhealthiness, and make sleep difficult.
We all acknowledge that it is far better for your child’s health to clad in 100 percent, chemical-free natural fibers, such as cotton or Iinen, but parents will have to weigh the risks and do what they think is be in their particular situation. Still, putting your child in chemically treated, 100 percent artificial fibers is no substitute for taking all the common sense precautions you can to make your house fire safe.
Nighttime house fires are almost always caused by preventable accidents, such as carelessly dropped cigarettes, unattended candles, accumulated garbage, overburdened electrical outlets, or portable electric heaters that have been left illuminated at night. None of these things is inevitable. Each is the result of negligence on the part of parents and can and should be prevented.
As a parent, it is your responsibility to do everything you can to reduce the risk of fire in your house, and this includes installing a smoke detector in your child’s room, conducting regular fire drills, and outlining the evacuation plans for your child in the event of a fire.
I think that it is better to use a little common sense and prevent fires in the first place than to argue over what sort of sleep garments burn slower. Telephone your local fire department to get the latest tips on making your house as safe from fire as possible
