This Is the Safest Way for Your Baby to Sleep.
Parents of babies are sleep deprived and obsessed with sleep. It is important for babies to get some sleep so that parents hope to get some rest. This is why we can come up with a “do whatever works” strategy rather quickly. But there are more and more reports that some of the products parents use and love are not safe for their sleeping babies. At the top of this list are the sleepers in bed right now.
Earlier this year, we learned that prone sleepers like Rock ‘N Play have been linked to dozens of child deaths. And now , a Consumer Reports investigation has concluded that multiple babies sleeping in bed are associated with at least 12 deaths between 2012 and 2018. These sleepers are designed to be shared with an adult guardian.
Beds do not currently have their own federal safety standards and have other potentially hazardous design elements. Notably, some have padding and soft surfaces that can block the flow of air if the baby’s face is in contact with fabric. And by their very nature, they encourage bedding together, a practice that in itself increases the risk of infant death.
“We know padding is a choking risk” when it approaches a sleeping baby, says Roy Benaroch, MD, associate professor of pediatrics at Emory University in Atlanta.
The news came alongside a study published in the journal Pediatrics that found that only 31% of mums reported that they always or often put their babies to sleep on separate approved sleeping surfaces. (Only women were interviewed, so it’s not clear what the rate for dads is.)
However, to reduce the risk of sleep-related infant deaths, the American Academy of Pediatrics offers helpful guidelines for parents:
- Until their first birthday, babies should sleep on their backs all the time they sleep – nap and night.
- Use a firm surface to sleep on.
- Room sharing – leave your baby’s sleeping area in the same room where you sleep for the first 6 months, or ideally the first year.
- Take your baby to bed only to feed or comfort.
- Never put your child to sleep on a couch, sofa or chair.
- Babies are advised not to sleep in the same bed.
- Keep soft items, loose bedding, or any item that could increase the risk of pinching, strangulation, or suffocation, out of your baby’s sleeping area.
- It’s okay to swaddle your baby.
- Try giving a pacifier before bed and before bed.
You can read the AAP guidelines in more detail here .
Therefore, while many of these foods seem like a way to ease sleep and night sleep, if they do not fall under the AAP guidelines, parents cannot be sure that they are safe.