Weekly Column: Receiving Blankets To The Rescue

Raising a newborn was a messy experience. There were onesies to wash, spit-ups to wipe, and diapers to change (of course), but I never considered how often we’d be changing crib sheets in those early days. And by ‘early’, I mean ‘every day for the first 6 months.’

I’d lay our baby down in freshly laundered jammies on a clean sheet, only to be met later with the blossoming stain of a diaper blow-out. I thought it would be no problem to change the sheet and be right back on track.

I was wrong.

Changing crib sheets was just about the most difficult part of my day. Draping myself over the side of the crib to tuck the sheet in place proved to be awkward at best, impossible at worst. I got so frustrated at times, I’d haul the entire mattress out of the crib rather than contort myself into muscle-cramping angles. But when there was an older sibling waiting to use that mattress as a floor trampoline, sheet changing morphed from an inane chore to an Olympic event.

Out of frustrated necessity, I solved the issue almost entirely. I laid a flannel receiving blanket over the middle of the sheeted mattress – right where the baby usually slept. When the inevitable diaper blow-out or reflux spit-up occurred, all I had to do was peel off the thin blanket to reveal the pristine sheet underneath. I always made sure the blanket was spread and tucked as much as it could be so the baby’s movement wouldn’t disturb it, and it worked beautifully. Sheet changing went from a daily task (or more!) to once every week or so.

It was a beautiful solution – until the baby started moving around. But before mobility hit, those months of sheet-changing freedom were glorious. And clean.