Baby Sleep Safety Check List
Common sense would tell you that there are positions and situations that baby should sleep in that are intrinsically safer than others. All of the baby experts and pediatricians around the world would agree with you. The problem is that most of them cannot agree with each other on exactly what those ideal positions and situations should be. Then you must again remind yourself that every baby is different, and that human life, in general, is not governed by exact science. This means that mankind does not always know the answers to every question, and thus the ‘accepted wisdom’ can and does change in relation to almost everything. The question of what is ‘perfect’ for baby is no exception to this rule. |
Nowadays, you would probably struggle to find many experts who still think the same way!
So, accept that the following safety check list is based on the best of our current knowledge.
Put baby on his or her back to sleep. Latest research indicates that a baby who sleeps on their back is less likely to become victims of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).
Use only a firm mattress. A soft mattress can smother your baby, leading to suffocation.
When using a crib or baby bed, there should be no significant gaps between the mattress and the frame of the crib or bed. If there are, then the danger is that your baby or infants can get their head wedged into these gaps and asphyxiate themselves.
Always avoid soft bedding and other soft, malleable items, including baby comforters, pillows, featherbeds, and even over-soft stuffed animals, etc. These all pose a risk of asphyxiation.
Bed sheets and underblankets should fit firmly and tightly around the mattress. Bedding that becomes loose can wrap itself around your baby and smother them.
Keep baby's face uncovered and free of obstruction to allow ventilation and normal breathing.
Avoid all kinds of strings, laces or ties on all bedding and nightclothes. These can represent a strangulation risk.
Adults must avoid smoking. It is proven that exposure to tobacco, both pre- and post-delivery, can clearly be associated with a higher risk of SIDS.
Avoid overheating babies sleeping area and do not overdress them. The ideal ambient temperature should be around 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius) with a humidity level of around 50%. Overheating is now thought to contribute to an increased risk of SIDS.
And, there are a couple of extra considerations that you must bear in mind if baby is sleeping with you that may be too obvious to state – but I am going to state them anyway!
If baby sleeps with you, there should either be a safety rail on their side of the bed, or they should sleep between you. Otherwise they will fall out!
And if there is a wooden frame to the bed, with any kind of struts and gaps in-between, don’t let baby near it. They could get their head jammed in there and suffocate.
Bedtime Rituals
Research over the years has indicated that babies who enjoy consistent bedtimes and comforting going-to-sleep rituals will generally tend to get to sleep easier and stay that way longer.
Yet, our modern lifestyles would tend to legislate against that happening nowadays, so that consistent and early bedtimes are not nearly as common, or as realistic, as they were at one time not all that long ago.
Many busy parents in two-income situations often don't get home until six or seven o'clock in the evening, so it's common for older babies and toddlers to try to ‘play out’ their parents and try to delay actually going to bed for as long as they can.
As far as your baby is concerned, this is prime time with you and he or she is going to milk it for all they can!
One possible answer to this for some families would be that baby takes a later afternoon nap, so that a later bedtime becomes a little more practical.
What is most important, however, is that established bedtime rituals are observed, as they set baby up for sleep. You must therefore create one that the whole family can work with.
Capitalize on an established principle of early infant development – that of patterns of association.
What this means is that your baby's developing brain is like a empty computer hard drive, one that is storing thousands of sequences that become patterns every moment of every day.
Thus it is that, once a bedtime ritual is established, then there comes a point every evening when baby will recognize and ‘click into’ the early part of that bedtime ritual. From that point on, he or she is programmed for the whole pattern to develop the way that it always does, with the final result being that they know that they are expected to drift off to sleep.
Bath Before Bed?
An essential part of the bedtime ritual for most parents is that baby will be bathed at a set time each evening, prior to being put to bed.
Unfortunately, whilst for the majority of babies this does help to soothe and relax them, this is certainly not true in every case.
In fact, for a significant minority of babies, a pre-bedtime bath is actually a stimulant, something that serves to keep them even wider awake, rather than helping them to get to sleep.
Be aware of how your baby appears to be reacting to pre-bedtime bathing, and adjust your practices accordingly.
Rocking & Soothing
Once again, as a general rule most babies like to be gently rocked and soothed by their mother (and sometimes by their father) as a part of the final relaxing drift down to sleep.
Most commonly, this will necessitate a period of ten to fifteen minutes of holding your baby, and rocking them very gently and calmly back and forth whilst speaking to them in a gentle, low, soothing voice.
If at all possible, it is important that you are totally focused on your baby whilst doing this. Baby wants to be the center of attention, the focal point of your world, and if this happens, most babies will relax and drop off to sleep very quickly indeed.
If, however, you are carrying on a shouting match with your partner, watching TV or shoveling food into your mouth whilst you are trying to get baby to relax, well, it is simply not going to happen.
Your baby can sense if you are tense, stressed or angry.
Plus, they can feel whether they are the complete focal point of your attentions or not.
In both situations, baby cannot put a finger on it, or give it a name in the way that an adult would, but they do know that something is not the way that they want it to be.
It is something that does not fit in with the bedtime ritual that they have come to expect as a precursor to sleep, and thus, they will not be relaxed and they will not sleep.
If you have a ritual that works, stick to it. If possible, do not do anything that changes or alters what it is that you and baby do together every evening.
If they generally like and expect gentle, calm rocking and soothing to get them to sleep, then that is what you will have to do every night, especially in their younger months.Solving Sleeplessness in Infants Will Help You...
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