Baby knee pads: best way to prevent scrapes and bruises

If you are anything like me then you will let your baby crawl around the house in nothing but a diaper when it’s hot.

Why?

Because my baby is an absolute wiggle monster who puts up one hell of a fight when I try to get him to wear pants. So much so that I am convinced he was a professional wrestler in a past life.

If I am just staying at home it’s much easier to let him go pants free, especially when they would just have to come off each time I need to change his diaper than it.

Besides:

There is nothing cuter than watching your little baby’s diapered booty wiggling back and forth as he scoots across the floor.

But there is one thing you have to watch out for:

Bloody knees.

A hard or rough floor can quickly bloody or bruise your baby’s knees as he crawls a few laps around your living room.

Because your baby’s skin is so soft and delicate it does not take much to mark it. Floors like marble and concrete pose a particular problem. Even carpet can rub your baby’s skin red raw. If you have ever had rug burn you will know just how much it sucks.

While your baby may not immediately realize just how sore his knees are, just wait until bath time. When those red and render knees hit the warm bath water your baby will definitely cry with pain.

So how do you stop this from happening?

We put shoes on our baby to protect their feet but for some reason do not bother with their knees. Fortunately, there are a great range of knee protection products designed to keep your baby’s knees safe and comfortable while crawling around.

Knee protection is great for special needs children whether your baby has:

• Hemophilia
• Cerebral palsy
• Spina Bifida
• Muscular Dystrophy

Or other disabilities, knee protection is a must. Slow developers who continue to crawl for a longer period than the average baby also benefit from knee protection.

But it’s not just crawlers that benefit from knee pads. If your toddler is just learning to walk then chances are he will keep falling over, banging his knees on the floor. Knee will provide your little ones knees with a soft place to land each and every time he takes a tumble.

There are two different types of baby knee protection products available. They are as close to knee shoes as you will get:

1. Baby leg warmers

Baby leg warmers are essentially long socks with out feet. Yes, this means that leg warmers only provide as much knee protection as a thick sock.

There are numerous problems with using leg warmers as knee protection:

1. Less protection than knee pads: While they provide enough protection across wooden floors, you may still find that harder floors such as marble or concrete will bruise your little ones knees.

2. Can be slippery: Leg warmers also have the problem of slipping on smoother floors like marble. Your baby will look like he is dong the running man dance.

3. Often slide down: Unless the leg warmers sit incredibly tight you will find that they slide down your baby’s legs as he crawls around. If the leg warmers are not covering your baby’s knees then they certainly not protecting them.

If you want the best knee protection for your baby then you are better off going with:

2. Baby knee pads

For those of you with very unfriendly floors, baby knee pads are your best bet. The knees area is made of a thick padded material and provides your baby’s knees with the maximum protection possible.

Crawling in knee pads will take some getting used to since the extra padding on the knees places your baby’s legs at a slightly higher than usual position when crawling. Fortunately, the learning curve is fairly low and before long your baby will be scooting across even the roughest of terrain without cutting his knees.

There is just one thing I need to cover before moving on. That is sizing. The range of sizes that baby knee pads come in is fairly limited.

While this wont be a problem if your baby is an average size, mine was what you would call an absolute chunker. You know those babies that you can pass off as a 9 year old when they are a little over three months? Yeah that was mine. Unfortunately he also had incredibly chubby legs.

These chubby legs did not agree with knee pads. When I slide the knee pads over his legs I noticed they were cutting off his circulation. Instead of protecting his little knee’s I was actually hurting them!

The same problem seems to occur with smaller than average babies as well:

Glenda says:

While I liked the idea of knee pads for babies, The result was less than pleasing. The kneepads kept slipping off my baby’s legs which are as thin as a stick insect’s.

Now If I caught Glenda when she was having these problems I could have told her a handy hint:

Wrist sweat bands are a great way to add thickness to your baby’s thin legs. The added thickness will help stop the knee pads from sliding down your baby’s skinny legs.

I am not trying to scare you off of knee pads. Many parents swear by them and with good reason; for the right baby they are a great solution for scraped knees. I just want to warn you of the dramas that you may face if your baby is anything but average sized.

And that brings me to the end of my guide on baby knee pads. While they wont be suitable for every baby, there is no denying that they can be very usefull in certain situations.

What are your thoughts on knee pads for babies; another pointless gimmick or a the best thing to happen to your baby’s knees?

I would love to hear your experience.

You know the drill: Leave me any questions, wisdom, love or hate in the comments below and as always . . .

Keep being awesome!

Featured Image Source: Flickr