“Is it ok to give my baby a pillow? She has a cold.”
“My mother told me that if I put my baby to sleep on his stomach he won’t fuss as much. She says we all slept that way and we’re fine!”
“I fall asleep nursing my baby at night all the time, is it really that bad?”
“My friend only put one of her kids to sleep on his back, and he’s still got muscle tone issues in 2nd grade!”
Safe baby sleep. It’s a subject loaded with judment-potential. Universally, everyone wants their babies to sleep well and be well, to 120. At the same time, people have a lot of opinions on where and how your baby should be sleeping. Your doctor says one thing, your grandmother/best friend/aunt/sheitel machel says another.
This is not such a fun topic, but after receiving a number of questions about the “why” and “how” of safe infant sleep practices, I thought it was worth addressing. I daven that the hishtadlus that we do in this area, as well as all the other areas of raising our children, should be rewarded with a lot of Siyata d’Shmaya.
I want to start with one position, and I hope my readers and listeners will bear with me.
Putting your baby to sleep on his/her back is one of the strongest efforts you can make in keeping him/her safe in infancy.
Tune into my safe infant sleep podcast to hear more on the history and statistics of the Back to Sleep Campaign. We’ll also discuss the power of “anecdotal evidence” vs “empirical evidence” (i.e. I slept on my stomach and so did my siblings and everyone I know, and we’re fine!). Plus we’ll review a lot of by-the-book safe sleep tips as well as “safer” sleep tips for those who want to bed share. (Yes! People study how to bed share more safely as well.)
I’m hoping you’ll take the time to listen to the companion podcast, so I just want to recap a few (sobering) things here:
- SIDS, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, refers to the unexplained death of a baby up to 1 year of age, lo aleinu.
- SIDS is real. It’s still the leading cause of death of babies between 1 month and 1 year. The highest risk is between 1-4 months, and 90% of SIDS cases occur in the first 6 months.
- There are many things parents can do to decrease risk, and the #1 thing is to put babies to sleep on their backs. The “Back to Sleep” campaign has been credited with saving thousands of infant lives in the US alone since the early 1990s.
Be sure to confirm with your babysitters and daycare providers that they will ONLY put baby to sleep on his/her back. Putting a baby who is used to back-sleeping onto his/her stomach to sleep carries additional risk.
Gadgets and products that claim to prevent SIDS are not recommended by any official or professional organizations, and have not been proven to help healthy babies. Heart/breathing monitors are useful for very specific conditions and intended to be used under the direction of a physician.
Now that I got that off my chest – here are some helpful links.
The Back to Sleep Campaign was recreated as the Safe to Sleep Campaign – with a beautiful, clear, highly informative website from the National Institute of Health (NIH).
Most educational information, including what’s listed on the NIH website, give a blanket statement not to sleep with your baby. Nonetheless, it remains a common and popular practice. So – what can you do to make bed sharing as safe as possible for your baby? See this Safe Cosleeping website from Dr. McKenna at the University of Notre Dame.
Lastly I like the March of Dimes’ website on Safe Sleep for your Baby for its being short, sweet, and to the point, PLUS including some general info on infant sleep and breastfeeding and sleep.
Back to those questions I started with…
“Is it ok to give my baby a pillow? She has a cold.”
If your baby isn’t fully mobile, it’s best not to give her a pillow. We don’t want her getting stuck underneath it or pushed against it. It’s also preferable not to sleep her in the carseat – being scrunched up won’t keep her airways the clearest. What you can do for a younger baby is elevate the head of her crib/bassinett a bit so that the bed is at a very slight angle. Make sure you’re not using bumpers and don’t have any loose bedding, in case she does shift down the mattress overnight. Using saline or freshly expressed breastmilk to help clean out her nose with a sucker is also an option.
“My mother told me that if I put my baby to sleep on his stomach he won’t fuss as much. She says we all slept that way and we’re fine!”
It’s true that babies sleep more deeply on their stomaches. The pressure is soothing (as with swaddling and being held!). However, the mechanism behind SIDS hasn’t yet been fully explained. Researchers suspect that something about that deeper sleep can cause SIDS. We did all sleep that way, and bH you and I are fine. Those that weren’t fine can’t tell us their side of the story.
“I fall asleep nursing my baby at night all the time, is it really that bad?”
It’s very natural to fall asleep nursing at night. That’s one reason it’s actually safer to breastfeed in bed than on the couch or in a cushioned chair. If you suspect you’re going to fall asleep, set yourself up safely by moving away pillows and fluffy blankets. Make sure you’re not too close to the edge of the bed, and (as a general rule) don’t place baby between you and your husband. If you do fall asleep nursing, just move baby out as soon as you wake back up and bring back those pillows and blankets. 🙂 (See the links above from Notre Dame and March of Dimes for more tips.)
“My friend only put one of her kids to sleep on his back, and he’s still got muscle tone issues in 2nd grade!”
Tummy time. Tummy time. Tummy time. You can start from Day 1 (my husband is like a drill seargant!). Baby can use awake time to strengthen his upper body right away. It also helps decrease the risk of a flat head. Yes, he’ll probably still have that awkward bald spot at some point in the first few months, but it’s a fair trade for peace of mind. Alternating which direction you put baby down in bed from week to week will also keep him adjusting slightly to different sights and sounds. There’s no reason to expect your child can’t develop normally and healthily while still sleeping safely on his back.
P'nima Wellness 