How to Make a Crib Rail Teether

A crib rail teether can prevent your teething baby from gnawing on her crib.

Little teeth can leave big marks. When your baby starts teething, adding a crib rail teether can protect the crib's finish and prevent splinters or other injuries to your baby's mouth. When you make your own crib rail teether, you can choose the fabrics to match your baby's nursery and bedding. Because you are adding something to your baby's sleeping area, constructing the crib rail teether correctly is important for preventing injuries or death.

Things You'll Need

• Measuring tape
• 3 yards of fabric
• 1 yard of quilted fabric
• Scissors
• Iron
• Ironing board or other flat surface
• Straight pins
• Ribbon
• Threaded sewing machine

Instructions

Creating the Teether

1. Measure the length of the side of the crib where you want the teething rail using a measuring tape. If you want a teething rail on all four sides of the crib, measure each side. The directions for making a teether will be the same for all four rails but the measurements could vary.

2. Add 2 inches to the measurement for the length of the crib. If your crib measured 51 inches, cut your fabric to 53 inches long. Every crib is different so you can decide how wide you need the fabric; 9 inches works for the average crib. Add 2 inches to the width.

3. Cut out the quilted fabric to match the exact measurements from the crib using scissors.

4. Lay the decorative fabric face down on an ironing board or another flat surface and fold up the edges 1/2 inch. With an iron press down the folded fabric.

5. Place the quilted fabric, right side facing out, on top of the wrong side of the decorative fabric. It will act as the back of the teething rail.

6. Fold 1/2 inch of the decorative fabric over the quilted fabric. Press with your iron and, using your straight pins, pin down the fold, inserting a straight pin every few inches.

Adding Ties

1. Cut your ribbons. For three ties, you will need six pieces of ribbon, two pieces of ribbon for each tie. Cut each length of ribbon to about 6 inches. Don't make the ties more than 9 inches long or they could pose a strangulation hazard for your baby.

2. Pin the ribbons to the back of the decorative fabric. Put two ribbons on opposite sides of the crib rail teether, the top and the bottom. When you fold the crib rail teether in half, you can tie together two of the ribbons. Tuck the edges of the ribbon into the fold of the quilted fabric and pin them in place.

3. Sew a straight stitch with your sewing machine around the entire crib rail teether over your pins. When you are finished you will have sewn the decorative fabric over the quilting fabric and sewn your ribbons to the rail in one stitch.

4. Place the crib rail teether, decorative fabric side up, over the crib's rail. The ribbons should be hanging down. Tie the ribbons together in a bow to help keep the crib rail teether in place.

References

• Baby Rabies: She's Crafty