Melinda worried her growing son wasn’t sleeping well in his small bassinet.
“Cribs are very expensive and it was not something I could afford,” said the mother who moved to Vancouver from the Philippines four years ago. “So BabyGoRound helped and getting a crib made a world of difference. Now my baby’s seven months and he’s sleeping well in his crib and I’m very happy.”
Melinda isn’t alone in lacking resources to get her hands on a crib.
In the more than two-and-half years she’s operated a non-profit that provides baby gear and clothing free-of charge to families in need, BabyGoRound founder and director Jennifer Randall Nelson has noted a crib is one of parents’ most frequent requests.
Of the 751 families who visited BabyGoRound in 2013, 76 per cent sought a crib and BabyGoRound was only able to fulfill 34 per cent of those requests.
So just in time for Mother’s Day, BabyGoRound is kicking off a Crib for Every Baby campaign to collect 500 gently used cribs by the end of the year to give to Lower Mainland families in need.
Randall Nelson has heard of babies sleeping in drawers, strollers and laundry baskets, and with parents.
A savvy shopper might be able to find a suitable secondhand crib online, but that might still be too expensive for some.
“They’re generally still a couple hundred dollars, which is still difficult for a family that’s making money stretch every week,” Randall Nelson said. “It really becomes the difference between, sometimes food and making that choice about sleeping.”
Families in need are referred to BabyGoRound by social service agencies that include the Vancouver Aboriginal Child and Family Services Society, the Positive Women’s Network and SOS: Settlement Orientation Services. Caregivers choose needed items from what’s been set up as a free-of-charge “store.”
BabyGoRound is also sharing safe sleeping information. The organization consulted with Vancouver-based pediatrician Dr. Antoinette Van den Brekel and Randall Nelson says co-sleeping isn’t recommended because of the risk of suffocation and sudden infant death syndrome. The Canadian Pediatric Society says the safest place for a baby to sleep in their first year of life is in a crib, and in their parents’ bedroom for the first six months.
BabyGoRound is accepting new and gently used cribs and money to buy cribs at cost from Canadian-based company Storkcraft.
For more information, see babygoround.ca and click on “A Crib For Every Baby,” or phone 604-558-4840.
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