Baby Bedding

The fitted sheet does most of the work:

it is the one piece that stays on the mattress every night, and most families keep a spare or two so one can dry while another is on. A full crib set adds a quilt, a bed skirt, a decorative cushion and padded bumpers that tie to the rails, but many parents keep only the fitted sheet under a small baby and leave the rest for looks, which is why the quilt and bumpers of a used set often show hardly any wear. A waterproof protector goes between sheet and mattress and spares the crib mattress the night-time leaks no sheet can stop.

Crib, play yard and bassinet sheets come in different sizes:

a sheet sold for a standard crib will bag and slip on the smaller, thinner pad of a folding play yard, and a play yard sheet will not stretch over a full crib mattress. Bassinet sheets are smaller again. Imported sets are labelled in inches for the American crib size or in centimetres for the European one, so check the label against the mattress, and look for elastic that runs right round the edge rather than only across the corners: it holds far better after months of washing. A standard American crib mattress also fits most toddler beds, so the crib’s fitted sheets carry on into the next bed. Cotton jersey and percale breathe and take hard washing well; microfibre and flannel feel softer at first but pill sooner.

Crib sets and what each piece adds to the price:

a simple three-piece crib set starts around Q200 new, while a themed set of six pieces or more, with quilt, bumpers, skirt and cushion, sits nearer Q750. Used, the two hold their value very differently. Fitted sheets carry every wash and are worth little once the elastic tires, whereas a complete themed set whose bumpers and quilt spent their life as decoration can still fetch a fair share of what it cost, as long as every piece is there and the print has not faded.

Elastic, sun and bleach on a used set:

sheets washed by hand and dried on the line in strong sun lose their stretch and colour faster than machine-dried ones, and bleach hurries both along. Pull each fitted sheet over a mattress, or at least stretch the corners: if the elastic stays limp or wavy, the sheet will ride up. Check dark prints along the folds for sun-bleached stripes, and flannel or microfibre in the middle, where the baby lay, for pilling. Squeeze the quilt and the bumpers for filling that has balled up in the wash, and count the ties on the bumpers, since a missing tie leaves a padded panel loose in the crib. On a waterproof protector, a backing that has turned stiff, sticky or cracked no longer keeps anything out. A set stored for months in a closed box can smell musty; a wash lifts that, but not mildew spots.

A crib set with a name embroidered on it:

a set ordered with the baby’s name stitched across the quilt or the cushion is lovely to receive and harder to pass on, so photograph the embroidery, say exactly what it reads, and price it for a buyer who is happy with it or will unpick it. For any set, list each piece and say which went into the crib and which only decorated it. Give the mattress size the fitted sheet was made for, say how it was washed and dried, and show the corners stretched out and the quilt in daylight. A family in Amatitlán or Santa Cruz del Quiché will want to know whether the elastic still grips and whether the house had pets or a smoker, so answer both in the listing; folded into one bag, a whole set travels easily with anyone already heading to the capital.