Crib Rail Protector

When I was pregnant with E, Mike and I spent a lot of time picking out a crib. While we were looking at the cribs, I envisioned this being a piece of furniture that he will have in his room for a while, especially since the bed can be converted to a toddler bed and eventually a full sized bed. So, imagine my dismay when I realized my little baby had been using his crib as a teething toy!

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Apparently, when he woke up he was standing at the side of the crib (which happened to be at mouth level) and just gnawing on it. Wonderful.

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I looked into buying one of the store-bought crib rail protectors, but to get the front rail plus the two sides costs about $50! Of course, my “I can make this cheaper” instinct kicked in!

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Start out by measuring the length of the front crib rail. This should end up being around a  yard (you can pick up a yard of fleece for about $8 at Joann Fabrics). I picked out a color that would match E’s nursery fairly closely.

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So I cut the fleece to the length of the crib rail by 10 inches wide. Since E will play in his bed and at this time he was learning to walk, I was a little concerned that he would hit his head so I started by using a piece of pipe insulating foam. You can pick one of these up for about $2 at Lowes. I want to note that the foam is really optional. I did it so that E couldn’t bang his head, but if that isn’t something you need you can omit it.

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After attaching the foam, drape the piece of fleece that you just cut over the rail. You want to make sure that all of the edges match up. I began by cutting slits about 2 inches long on either side of the slat. You will want to cut both sides at the same time so that the slits will match up correctly. I then tied every other strip (this is sort of the same process that you would use use if you were making a hand tied blanket.

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Once you have tied all of the strips (going every other one) then you will just tuck up the untied strips so it gives it a nice, polished look. You can do this one the side rails also, just use the same process. Right now my little woodchuck hasn’t started gnawing on those rails, but I suspect that I will be needing to cover them in the future!

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6 Comments

  1. LOL!! Glad I’m not the only one with a little beaver!! My fix was to use the crib bumper, I had taken it out due to mines a climber as well…. I knew there was something to be made with it just not sure what untill I heard the chewing! Folded in half over the rails and added ribbon ties along the way. Perfect fit and a perfect match to everything!!!

  2. I can not thank you enough for this post!!!! I have the same problem with our daughter and thought we were the only one!!!!! None of my friends have seemed to have this issue. I knew I could do it myself too but was just trying to figure out exactly how. Thanks for figuring it out for me!!!!

  3. I would never recommend a mother used pipe insulating material in her baby’s room. Foam its made out of is extremely toxic and produces gasses that an infant will be around now most of his/her day (you can look up “off-gassing” and VOCs of foams, including polyurethane and memory foams).
    Maybe skip the foam, and try some organic (not died, ammonia cured or pesticide dipped) wool or organic cotton (non-organic cotton is typically died with lots of chemicals) padding. Just a suggestion. Its your child 🙂

    1. I didn’t even know about that! Thanks for letting me know! The teething protector could even be used without the foam which is eventually what I did with my son as he kept pulling the foam out.

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