The best crib bumpers keep airflow open in the crib for the best sleeping environment for your baby. A breathable mesh crib bumper does what it should – prevents arms and legs from getting in between crib slats – without posing a suffocation or SIDS risk. Take a look at the five best crib bumper options to keep your baby safe and your crib cute.
Best Mesh Crib Bumpers
The Disney liner includes 2 long (51 x 10 inches) and 2 short (27 x 10 inches) side segments whereas the BreathableBaby liner only includes 1 long (11 x 111 inches) segment and 1 short (11 x 82 inches) segment.
BreathableBaby Deluxe Breathable Mesh Crib Liner
Mesh makes the best crib bumper because of the fabric’s breathable nature. The best mesh crib liner is the BreathableBaby Deluxe Breathable Mesh Crib Liner. If you worry about little legs and arms getting stuck between crib slats, mesh is the way to go. If a baby were to roll over in the night and butt up against the bumper, they can continue to breathe easily.
Pick from several different colors to coordinate with your nursery design. The choices include white, light pink, dark pink, dark gray, light gray, tan, and navy. Mind you, the mesh remains white for most of these options with the trim providing the color. Using fishnet mesh and muslin liner allow airflow to stay open for the health of your infant.
Finally, the crib liner installs easily. Fits four-sided slatted cribs, solid-back cribs, solid end cribs, portable, and mini cribs too. Slide the fabric through a couple of slats and tie for added security. Measures 4 x 11.5 x 10.5 for a safe and affordable option to add a little color to your baby’s room.
You can also pick from a selection of designs from BreathableBaby as well, including elephants, jungle animals, chevron, lattice, whales, and owls to better match your nursery theme.
Possible Problems
If your crib includes a changing table, this liner may not work. Also, as your child gets older they may find inventive ways of pulling the liner of the crib. Make sure to use a video monitor if you have any form of liner or bumper in your child’s crib.
Disney’s Secure-Me Crib Liner
Disney fans rejoice! The well-loved company created a mesh crib liner to work with your Disney-themed crib sets and sheets named the Disney’s Secure-Me Crib Liner. That’s right, your child can now sleep protected by Winnie the Pooh and a whole host of other Disney characters. Pick liners to coordinate with Ariel, Dumbo, Mickey, Minnie, and the Lion King.
The mesh liners come in two parts. First, there’s the design area up top that securely attaches to the crib rails. Second, the mesh breathable part that stays down near where your baby’s mouth will lay in the crib. It’s the best of both worlds with both function and beauty.
The four-piece set works with most standard and convertible cribs. Each set includes two long bumpers and two shorter side segments to surround the crib. Both longer sides measure 51 x 10 inches while the shorter side segments measure 27 x 10 inches.
All four pieces are 100% polyester microfiber. Start your child’s love of Disney from birth!
Possible Problems
The bumper only uses ties to attach to the crib, which little fingers may learn to take off once they get a little older. Make sure to supervise a baby in a crib with any crib bumper.
Best Vertical Crib Bumpers
Trend Lab Waterproof CribWrap Rail Cover
Forget a traditional crib bumper and opt instead for top liner like the Trend Lab Waterproof Crib Wrap Rail Cover. Instead of wrapping a soft liner around the entire bottom half of the bed, go directly to the source at the top. Not only does it look adorable but has ties for extra beauty.
While your child still has access to sticking legs or arms outside the slats, the soft fabric makes it harder for them and safer if they do. The soft fabric allows them to easily recede their arms and legs back inside the confines of the crib. Even better, the silky fabric prevents older babies from gaining leverage to climb out of their cribs.
Younger babies who rollover may end up resting their face on the covers, but since they are much shorter than traditional bumpers, your child has much better chances of breathing, even if they do not roll away from the covered slats. These slats keep optimal airflow for infants. They also allow babies to continue to see out even if they are laying down.
Last of all, as some babies tend to move around in their sleep, this cover make for a more comfortable environment in case your child does bump their head. The set includes 24 slat liners to cover most cribs with the possibility of leftovers depending on how many slats your bed utilizes. The liner also use ties to stay on the bed, which is much safer and less easy for children to remove.
Possible Problems
Some of the slats are not perfect and some may be slightly off-sized. The price you can pay a little higher than traditional crib bumpers, but these offer a lot more safety than traditional bumpers.
Best Crib Rail Cover
AirflowBaby Essential Mesh Crib Liner
Another option to avoid a typical unsafe crib bumper is the Airflow Baby Essential Mesh Crib Liner. While this set you will not keep a very young infant from bumping into the wood slats, they will keep the space free for full breathing ability. These padded bumpers attach to the top of the crib and work best for older babies.
The larger crib bumper measures 23 cm x 282 cm and folds the top of the crib rail. The smaller bumpers for the sides of the crib measure 27.5 inches by 7 inches. These pads will fit most standard-sized cribs.
Ribbons attach the two sides together with dedicated string slots. These slots keep babies from removing them from the crib even if they manage to untie the strings.
The rail cover is made from a soft and luxurious polyester. Machine washable on gentle cycle and tumble dry low for no shrinkage or warping.
Finally, the rail covers work to prevent older children from biting and leaving teething marks on the top crib rail. Yes, bored babied do, in fact, teeth on crib rails.
Possible Problems
Some parents have complained that their children were still able to pull this off, even with the string design that is supposed to keep it baby-proof. Just tie solid double knots on the outside of the crib and you should be fine.
Also, be aware that this is not a very thick pad, so you may want to place additional padding underneath it just to protect baby from any hard bumps. Lastly, these only come in one color which is kind of boring.
Crib Bumper Comparison
The table below compares only the recommended products on this page. A low or high Price means it is low or high compared to the other products listed. The Popularity Score reflects how often readers click on and buy the product. The Quality Score is our assessment of the overall performance and satisfaction with the product compared to others in the table.
| BreathableBaby Deluxe Breathable Mesh Crib Liner | 3.9 | 9.0 | 79.49 |
| Trend Lab Waterproof CribWrap Rail Cover | 8.7 | 9.4 | 40.98 |
| Disney's Secure-Me Crib Liner | 6.9 | 9.0 | 30.79 |
| AirflowBaby Essential Mesh Crib Liner | 9.9 | - | 29.99 |
FAQs – Crib Bumpers
Are crib bumpers safe?
The majority of traditional crib bumpers are not safe. Here at Experienced Mommy, we only recommend crib bumpers that will keep your babies safe.
Take a look at the reasons why traditional crib bumpers are problematic for babies.
- The safest sleep environment for a baby is one without any loose or soft objects in the bed. Quilts, pillows, comforters, bumpers, bumper pads, stuffed animals, and even soft toys can pose a suffocation risk. Babies cannot yet control their body or movements and may end up rolling into one of these items with no control to move themselves. Keep beds clear of these items for the first year.
- Some older babies use padded crib bumpers to climb out of their cribs. Mesh crib bumpers do not give babies the leverage to climb out of a bed.
- Because of reduced airflow, bumper pads can lead to an increase in SIDS risk. Cribs must follow certain mandates now for how far apart slats must be from each other, so crib bumpers aren’t essential to helping your baby prevent injury like they once were. Plus, they can reduce airflow to the sleep environment, which is another possible SIDS factor.
If crib bumpers aren’t safe, why do people still use or sell them?
Many parents worry that when a baby wiggles around in the crib, they will bump their head on the hard crib sides.
Parents also worry children will get their arms and legs stuck in between slats, which will not happen as the government now requires the slats spaced closer to avoid this issue.
Finally, many attractive bedding sets include bumpers, so parents use them to add color and style to the crib.
Should I stop using crib bumpers when my child can stand on their own?
If you plan on using traditional padded crib bumpers, then you should discontinue use once your child can stand on their own.
Children tend to want out of their crib and they will find a way. A crib bumper gives them leverage to climb out and fall.
Also, as babies get older they learn to use their fingers. With time, they will untie crib bumpers and use those to climb out or create a suffocation or strangulation risk in their crib.
