Who Knew? Vertically Challenged Moms

By Robin England
BBA Contributor and Stay-at-home Mom
Plano, TX

Who knew that short (or should I say “vertically challenged”) moms needed to have drop down rails on their baby’s cribs? I am 5 feet, 1 ½ inches tall. I was the shortest kid in school my whole life and I’ve gotten used to being one of the shortest adults around as well. No big deal – it’s just who I am.

When we were looking for a crib during our first pregnancy, we fell in love with a beautiful crib that converted to a double bed. We thought this was a great idea and we pictured our son in this crib/bed through his 18th year. What we didn’t realize was that such beds did not have a drop down side because the front and back of the crib converts to a footboard and headboard for the double bed. But I didn’t care because it was pretty and we would be getting our money’s worth after those eighteen years, right?!

It wasn’t a problem when our son was small. We had the mattress up pretty high and I could get him in there fairly easily. But as he grew, and as we lowered the mattress to keep him from pulling up and out of the crib, I realized that I was dropping him into the crib more often than placing him in it. This situation created a host of issues. Our son would invariably wake up during mid-drop and start screaming – so goodbye nap time and rest time for Mommy! I tried standing on a stool to place him in the crib but that just made me feel like I was going to lose my balance and drop both of us. I ended up settling with straddling the crib rail in my middle (talk about uncomfortable) and rocking over the crib to place him – this worked about 50 percent of the time. The rest of the time, he woke up, fussed, screamed…you get the idea.

Now, three years later, that same crib is a very nice double bed. But if we had it to do over again, we would get a drop down rail and not worry about converting to a double bed. After all, his room is small and that big bed takes up a lot of space – especially in a room where Thomas the tank engine reigns supreme and requires quite a bit of floor space for his ‘friends’ and track.

Actually, we did “have it to do all over again” about six months ago when our daughter was born. What kind of crib did we get? A very nice little drop down rail number that converts to a small toddler bed. It’s perfect. She stays asleep as I easily place her in the crib and she takes good naps. Who knew???

Thanks to Robin for contributing this post. You can also submit your own "Who knew?" stories to be published on BBA. We're looking for the stories about pregnancy and parenting that you don't always find in the books, but you probably should. I've often thought, "How am I supposed to just know that?" That's how this column,"Who knew?" came to be.

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