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HOO’s Healthy Dangers of Co-Sleeping
Having your baby sleep in your bed with you is not a safe practice. Tragically, according to the CDC, about 3,500 infant sleep-related deaths occur each year. These deaths include those by accidental suffocation, SIDS and sleep deaths due to unknown causes. According to the American Association of Pediatrics (AAP), the risk of sleep-related death increases five to ten times when babies younger than four-months-old share a bed with a parent.
Why co-sleeping is not safe
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Co-sleeping is dangerous due to the fact that an infant primarily breathes through her nose and it is easy for a baby’s nose to become obstructed. Young infants do not yet have the motor skills to roll clear of an obstruction and an infant who cannot breathe through her nose may suffocate. Co-sleeping risks also include strangulation due to accidental entrapment between the mattress and headboard and the risk of the infant falling out of the bed.
Practice ‘safe sleep’ instead
The CDC and the AAP stress in published 'safe sleep' guidelines that it may be possible to prevent some sleep-related infant deaths by
By Linda Ligon, Family & Kids
creating a 'safe sleep' environment. According to the CDC and the AAP, in the first year of life, infants should sleep in a parent’s room but not in the parent’s bed. Experts warn against falling asleep with a baby on a soft chair also. Parenting a newborn can be exhausting but do not put your baby in your bed because it seems like the only way to catch up on sleep. If you need some sleep but your baby is not wanting to fall asleep in her crib, seek some help from family or friends willing to care for your baby while you get some rest.
According to the AAP, an infant should sleep on a firm mattress in her own crib or on a sleep surface that meets federal safety guidelines. Also, never use a crib that is damaged or does not come with instructions. The sleep surface should not be inclined and there should not be any blankets, pillows, crib bumpers or stuffed animals in your baby’s crib. Place your baby on her back to sleep.
