Every time you turn around you're being told what not to do especially for a baby and how irresponsable you are. Obviously the survival rate in spite of these taboos that we have all done, is clear.
In our family the tradition is to make every new baby a quilt. It is up to the parent when they decide to use it or hang it over the end of the crib. As long as it's washable and color fast it's good. Our baby quilts were used for many things. When a baby gets sick in the night a few extra stashes of bedding in reach is such a blessing. There have been times we went through 3-4 sets per a child a night. I groggly stripped down the baby while my husband half eyed wondered into the bathroom and got a warm wash cloth. He then wiped down a waling baby while I stripped and remade the bed. While I nursed the little one back to sleep. He'd fill the tub with water as our temperary wash basin so we would not have to make the basement trek over and over again especially on a clod winter night. So would begin our night vidual. Baby quilts are so nice to have.