Safe Co-sleeping with Baby

How to make co-sleeping work for you and your family.

Co-sleeping

• Every family has different nighttime needs and the key is to find the solution that feels right to everyone in your family, whether it's putting baby in a crib in the nursery, or co-sleeping.
• The best choice for co-sleeping is to place a large, firm mattress on the floor, making sure there are no crevices that your baby can become wedged in.
• Infants should be placed between their mother and the wall or guardrail as fathers, siblings, and grandparents don't have the same instinctual awareness of a baby's location as mothers do.
• Remove pillows and blankets in the early months and don't wear night-clothes with strings or long ribbons. Don't wear jewelry to bed and if your hair is long, put it up.
• Make sure that your young baby is sleeping on her back, which is the safest position for sleep.

he family bed, co-sleeping, shared sleep–no matter what you call it, it means that your baby sleeps with you, or very close to you. Co-sleeping is popular with parents (particularly nursing mothers) of young babies who wake throughout the night and also with parents of older babies who enjoy the nighttime closeness with their child. If you're considering co-sleeping, here's what you should know about the easiest–and safest–way to share sleep with your child.

Making the decision to co-sleep

Every family has different nighttime needs and the key is to find the solution that feels right to everyone in your family. It's important to forget about trying to satisfy anyone else's perception of what you should be doing. In other words, no matter what your in-laws, neighbors, pediatrician, or favorite author say about sleeping arrangements, the only "right" answer is the one that works for the people living in your home.

Making co-sleeping safe

If you decide to have your baby sleep with you, either for naps or at nighttime, you should follow a few safety guidelines:

1. Your bed must be absolutely safe for your baby. The best choice is to place the mattress on the floor, making sure there are no crevices that your baby can become wedged in. Make certain your mattress is large, flat, firm, and smooth. Do not allow your baby to sleep on a soft surface such as a waterbed, sofa, pillow-top mattress, or any other flexible surface.
2. Make certain that your fitted sheets stay secure and cannot be pulled lose.
3. If your bed is raised off the floor, use mesh guardrails to prevent your baby from rolling off the bed, and be especially careful that there is no space between the mattress and headboard or footboard. (Some guardrails designed for older children are not safe for babies because they have spaces that could entrap them.)
4. If your bed is placed against a wall or other furniture, check every night to be sure there is no space between the mattress and wall or furniture where baby could become stuck.
5. Infants should be placed between their mother and the wall or guardrail. Fathers, siblings, and grandparents don't have the same instinctual awareness of a baby's location as mothers do. But if you find that you are such a deep sleeper that you only wake when your baby lets out a loud cry, you should seriously consider moving baby out of your bed, perhaps into a cradle or crib near your bedside. (Your baby should be able to awaken you with a minimum of movement or noise.)
6. If you're worried about having your baby in bed with you, but you still want her close, one option is a sidecar arrangement in which your baby's crib or cradle sits directly beside the main bed.
7. Don't ever sleep with your baby if you have been drinking alcohol, have used any drugs or medications, are an especially sound sleeper or if you are suffering from sleep deprivation and find it difficult to awaken.
8. Do not sleep with your baby if you are a large person, as a parent's excess weight has been found to pose a risk to babies in a co-sleeping situation. Examine how you and your baby settle in next to each other–if she rolls towards you, if there is a large dip in the mattress, or if you suspect any other dangerous situations, play it safe and move her to a bedside crib or cradle.
9. Remove all pillows and blankets during the early months and use caution when adding pillows or blankets as your baby gets older. Dress your baby and yourselves warmly. (A tip for breastfeeding moms: wear an old turtleneck or t-shirt, cut up the middle to the neckline, as an undershirt for extra warmth.) Keep in mind that body heat will add warmth during the night, so make sure your baby doesn't become overheated.
10. Do not wear any night-clothes with strings or long ribbons. Don't wear jewelry to bed, and if your hair is long, put it up.
11. Do not allow pets to sleep in bed with your baby.
12. Make sure that your young baby is sleeping on her back, which is the safest position for sleep.

When to make changes

Sleeping situations tend to go through a transformation process throughout the early years of a baby's life. Some families make a conscious decision to co-sleep with their babies until they feel that their children are ready for independent sleeping. Some families make modifications as their babies begin to sleep better at night. Other families move their babies to cribs to accommodate a need for private sleep. The best advice is, go with the flow and make adjustments according to what works best for you.