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How to Co Sleep Safely With Your Baby

August 23rd, 2008 by admin

Whilst some may believe cosleeping to be unsafe, if it’s done safely there are many benefits. Cosleeping promotes confidence and self esteem. Children who do not cosleep are harder to control, less able to deal with stress and are more likely to be dependent upon their parents. Indeed the majority of babies around the world cosleep with their parents; it is only a western phenomenon in which children sleep on their own in their own rooms.
Before baby arrives, make sure your bed and bedroom is safe by following these steps. Think of your bed as a large crib, and follow basic crib safety guidelines.
Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Consumer Product Safety Commission disagree with the above statement. Both organizations strongly recommend against co-sleeping. However this view is strongly countered by many, in particular Professor James McKenna, director of the University of Notre Dame Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory.

Steps

  1. Use as firm a sleeping surface as possible. It’s not safe to co-sleep on a waterbed, featherbed or other overly-soft sleeping surface
  2. Think big. A king size bed is best, so invest the money you would have spent on a crib to upgrade to a firm, king size bed. However, if you co-sleep safely, any bed size will be fine.
  3. Make sure your sheets are tight and lay flat on your bed. If your sheets are very loose, you can purchase elastic clip-on “sheet keepers” in the bedding department of most stores.
  4. Remove any extra pillows, blankets, decorative throws, pillows and bolsters, and stuffed animals. Keep only what you absolutely need.
  5. Stay close. Baby is safest between the mother and a bed rail or the wall. (Mothers usually know where baby is even in their sleep, while partners and older children don’t show the same keen awareness.)
  6. Mind the gap. The bed should be flush against a guard-rail or the wall. Insert pillows or tightly-rolled blanket if there is a gap. Remember that a guard-rail that is designed to keep a toddler or preschooler from rolling out of bed may not be safe for an infant. (An infant is much smaller, so the guard-rail may pose an entrapment risk.)
  7. Place baby to sleep on their back or side. Also try “spooning” your baby, placing them on their side with their back to your torso.
  8. Lower your bed. When baby is old enough to get out of the bed, it’s safest to remove your bed frame and place your box spring and mattress on the floor, in case of falls. Teach your baby how to wiggle out of bed feet first, the same as they would go down stairs.
  9. Soften the blow. If your room has hard floors, place soft throw-rugs beside the bed and at the end of the bed, to cushion accidental falls.


Tips

  • You can swaddle baby, or dress them in a warm sleep sack, and place them on top of the bedding if you’re worried you’ll accidentally cover their face with your covers. Check your baby’s temperature if you are swaddling to avoid overheating your baby and make sure that the swaddle can’t come unwrapped or the swaddle itself can pose a hazard to your baby.
  • If you do not feel safe with the baby in your bed, purchase a co-sleeper such as the “Arm’s Reach Bedside Cosleeper” or the “Amby Bed,” or put baby’s crib in your bedroom. Both mother and baby can still benefit from co-sleeping in this way. A crib pulled against your bed with one side lowered is NOT a safe option. This poses a risk of entrapment/strangulation.
  • As baby gets older, he/she may be able to sleep safely in the middle of the bed, providing your partner or older child can sense their presence and not roll over on them.
  • Be sure to child-proof your entire bedroom as soon as baby starts crawling, so they can get out of bed and be safe while you’re still resting. Close bedroom doors or use gates so baby can’t leave the room.
  • A low budget way to keep your baby from getting trapped in the space between the bed and the wall is to wedge a body pillow into the space tightly so that it only sticks out a small amount and the exposed part is firm to the touch.
  • When travelling and in unfamiliar sleeping quarters, sleeping bags work very well to keep babies close. Use them unzipped on the floor, however, and make sure that they don’t provide any more padding than what you would receive with a firm mattress. Otherwise the risk of rebreathing “stale air” (a risk factor for SIDS) becomes quite high.


Warnings

  • Do not co-sleep with baby if you are under the influence of drugs or alcohol that impair your ability to sense the baby’s presence beside you.
  • Do not co-sleep with baby if you are so exhausted or ill that you’re not able to sense the baby’s presence beside you.
  • Do not co-sleep with baby if you have an illness, such as sleep apnea, that prevents you from rousing easily.
  • Don’t wear night-clothes that are too loose or have ties that could be unsafe for baby. Ditto for your partner.
  • If your room isn’t child-proofed, DO NOT allow baby out of bed unless you get up with them.
  • Contrary to myth, obese mothers can co-sleep with their baby safely, provided they follow basic safety guidelines and have no health problem that prevents them from rousing easily from sleep.
  • Research has shown that when tragedies occur, it is often the first time a particular “safe sleep” procedure wasn’t used. This is particularly important for the Back to Sleep position: “Research has shown that babies who are used to sleeping on their backs but who are suddenly placed in bed on their sides or their tummies face a very high risk of SIDS. This risk factor humps from the standard incidence rate of 0.56 deaths per 1000 live births to 6.9 per 1000 for the side-lying position and 8.2 for the tummy-lying position. (Sleep Solutions for Your Baby, Toddler, and Preschooler by Ann Douglas).


Things You’ll Need

  • Tight, flat sheets - you may need elastic clip-on sheet keepers.


Related wikiHows


Sources and Citations

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world’s largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Co Sleep Safely With Your Baby. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

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