Co-Sleeping with Your Baby
Some parents choose to ‘co-sleep’ with their baby.
Co-sleeping with your baby essentially just means sleeping on the same surface – most commonly sharing a bed at night but it might also include armchair naps, snoozing on the couch and so on.
In general, most childcare experts discourage this practice.
Why it happens
In one sense, the need to keep a younger baby close to you at all times is very probably an evolutionary survival instinct.
However, the statistics are now clear – the risks from SUIDS (Sudden Unexpected Infant Death Syndrome) are far higher with younger babies who are sharing a sleeping surface with a parent or parents. The exact reasons for this aren’t 100% understood because although the risks of accidental suffocation and related problems are a factor, they don’t explain all such deaths.
Even so, the statistical links have been well established. The result is that most childcare specialists now advise that parents should not sleep in the same bed (or similar) as their baby when the baby is under 12 months old.
This may be an emotional issue, notably for some mothers who have recently given birth, some of whom report feeling a very strong emotional urge to keep their babies close to them at all times. There are though, ways of dealing with this, through cot positioning, should it arise.
Recommendations
Most experts now recommend that the baby has a separate sleeping surface that is not part of the parental bed.
A separate cot is ideal. This can be positioned directly alongside the bed, if required, to keep parents very close and within touching distance for re-assurance of the baby and the mother who may be feeling the need for such proximity in the early weeks. However, it should not be positioned where it can be accidentally knocked over, stepped into or rolled on, by a parent who is rising in the middle of the night and who may be both exhausted and sleep-confused.
The latest advice also suggests that babies should sleep in the same room as their parent/parents for the first 6-12 months. Babies can sense their parents in the room and that may provide additional reassurance.
Things to avoid
Typically, do not:
- fall asleep with your baby in your arms on a sofa, bed or chair etc;
- sleep alongside your baby if you’re wearing a necklace or have nightwear that has loose dangly cord ties;
- doze with your baby in your arms or even alongside you in their cot, if you have consumed alcohol, used drugs or taken prescribed medicines. These may all cloud your judgement or cause you to fall asleep unexpectedly, possibly resulting in danger to your sleeping child;
- sleep during or immediately after, breastfeeding, if your child remains in your arms however tired you may naturally feel. Make a point of putting them down in their cot first;
- allow other family members to vary your rules on this, if you’re leaving your baby in their charge for a period. Fully brief them on what is not acceptable when your baby takes a nap or if they’re putting them down for the night.
These are a few basic steps but they’ll add protection for younger babies while you and they are sleeping.
