Aden & Anais
At $40 to $48
Pros
- Soft & Pretty
Cons
- airy (thin) side
- not cushiony
Although we never registered for baby shower gifts (because [a] I’m not into showers, as I quickly discovered during my wedding shower where I felt supremely awkward; and [b] because I had my first baby at age 33, with a good job, and we didn’t need help buying things to set up our nest), I imagine it’s a similar process to a wedding registry.
There’s probably an enormous list of need-to-haves and nice-to-haves and a fancy algorithm that determines the number of items for which you should register based on the number of celebratory baby events you’ll have.
If you’re already a parent and reading this, you know that the vast majority of these things are nice-to-haves. What you really need to bring baby home is a surprisingly short list.
However, a crib sheet is a need-to-have, unless of course you are in Dr. Sears‘ camp and plan to share the family bed (a.k.a. co-sleep) until your baby transitions to a bed of her own – not a crib.
Of note: we’re not co-sleepers for a few reasons, the most important of which that I am completely unable to sleep with a toddler’s foot jammed into my throat, and 20 minutes later getting dangerously close to recreating the scene from Planes, Trains and Automobiles (“Those aren’t pillows!”). And it is not – I repeat, NOT – selfish to want a full night’s sleep. I’m a much better mommy when I’m well-rested.
Crib sheets, it is. I don’t even know if one can purchase flat crib sheets (it would be awfully hard to do hospital corners), so please assume that any time I refer to a crib sheet that it’s fitted.
When we registered for our wedding gifts, we were told that we needed three complete sheet sets – one for our bed, one for the wash and a spare in the linen closet.
Mark my words, however, that when it comes to babies, the three-set rule does not apply.
By my calculations, you need at least five crib sheets:
- One in the crib
- One covered in pee
- One covered in spit-up
- One covered in boogers and phlegm
- One in the linen closet
Well, you might argue while rolling your eyes, “I would simply wash the pee-soaked one and replace the crib sheet with the one in the linen closet.” Ah, but you have a baby, you see. And I don’t know how they do it, but sheet Nos. 2, 3 and 4 above may all happen in the same night. Better safe than sorry. Let’s just call it an insurance policy.
You’ve read enough of my reviews now to know that I’m not a big fan of off-gassing (just type “off-gassing” into my search field and you’ll see several blog posts appear), so when it comes to crib sheets I strongly believe in taking the organic route if you can afford it. Thankfully, there’s no shortage of organic crib sheet options out there today so you have a tonne of choice.
I’d like to introduce you to the brand-spankin’ new aden + anais organic crib sheet, which rolls into Canadian stores this week. Made from the company’s signature muslin, it’s like your baby’s favourite organic swaddling blanket has turned into a crib sheet. A big thank you to Fulton Sales for sending us one to try out long before they were available here – even if it is the U.S. version, which is two full inches shorter than the new Canadian version (keep that in mind if ordering from a U.S. retailer).
THE GOOD
Muslin rocks. It’s soft, it’s cozy, it just feels great against your skin. It keeps you warm in winter and cool in summer. It’s a breeze to launder (and actually gets softer with every wash/dry cycle). And I can tell you from experience that after washing half a dozen muslin “shmatas” for a whole year – when I was a nanny in my early 20s – that the fabric wears extremely well over time.
The aden + anais organic crib sheet is made ethically from certified organic cotton.
The numbers vary depending on the source, but it’s generally claimed that the majority of (non-organic) cotton is grown with toxic chemicals. Obviously, it’s less expensive to head down to Wal-Mart and grab an $8 crib sheet – and if that’s what works for you, great.
But if the idea of contributing to environmental stress, pesticide use, health issues – and the list goes on – isn’t your cup of tea, then an 
organic cotton crib sheet is probably more up your alley.
The fit is great. Even though my sample is really for U.S. cribs, which are two inches shorter than Canadian cribs, there’s so much elastic around each corner that it stretches enough to accommodate Miss Q’s crib – a tight squeeze but once it’s on, it doesn’t budge. In fact, now that I think of it, we don’t own any other crib sheet with this much give. I can only imagine how well the Canadian-sized sheet fits!
At $40 to $48 (depending on where you buy it), the aden + anais organic crib sheet is priced pretty much in the middle of comparable organic brands – and looks like the deal of the week when you see brands like Dwell selling NON-organic cotton crib sheets for even more.
THE GAFFE
aden + anais’s muslin is definitely on the airy (thin) side, so if you have a crib mattress pad that has any kind of logo or writing on it, you’ll certainly see it through this translucent sheet.
On that note, if you have a crib mattress like ours, you definitely need to invest in a mattress pad before using this crib sheet because it’s not going to add any cushioning. Soft and cozy? Yep. Cushiony? Nope. Though if you have a latex crib mattress from a company like Soma, you’d be just fine without a pad – unless you want it for waterproofing.
THE GEARS
4.5/5
So…where can you buy it?
- Although not for sale online yet, the distributor assures me that Snugglebugz, Crocodile Baby, Barla Banana Boutique and Mere Helene will carry this new aden + anais line within the next week or so
CONTEST
Wanna win one? Of course you do! If you have a Facebook account, you can enter on my contest page
