Contents:
- Medical Video: Safe Sleep for Your Baby
- Tips for safe sleeping with babies
- 1. The baby's sleeping position is safe
- 2. Safe sleeping environment
- 3. Safe bed
- 4. Wear sleepwear that is safe for babies
- 5. Pay attention to your own condition
Medical Video: Safe Sleep for Your Baby
Sleeping naked with your newborn baby may make you more comfortable because you know your baby is beside you when you fall asleep. However, actually sleeping with a baby is not recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Why?
Because it turns out babies less than 2 years old who sleep in bed with you can increase the risk of experiencing death from shortness of breath, SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), suffocation, or other things. However, other experts disagree with this statement. They consider bedtime with babies to be safe and useful.
According to Dr. James McKenna, as quoted by La Leche League International, has shown that bedtime with a baby while breastfeeding a baby can encourage the formation of a mother-baby bond, regulate the sleep patterns of the mother and baby, help the mother be responsive to baby cues, and provide adequate rest for mother and baby. Sleeping in bed with the baby also helps the mother give milk at night whenever the baby asks for it.
However, if you decide to sleep well together, you still have to do it carefully so as not to have a bad impact on the baby.
Tips for safe sleeping with babies
You still have to be careful if you want to sleep in bed with your baby. Wrong or wrong, the baby can be crushed with your body, your hand or pillow can cover the airway, and other unwanted events. Watch your baby and yourself if you want to sleep in bed with your baby.
The following are things you should do while sleeping together with a baby.
1. The baby's sleeping position is safe
Make sure your baby's sleeping position is safe. Sometimes, trivial things like this can actually cause sudden death in the baby due to obstruction of the airway. Sleep the baby on his back so that the baby is free to breathe.
You yourself should sleep in a position like the letter C next to the baby. Sleep by facing your baby, put one of your hands on the baby's head and put your feet close to the baby's feet. This position keeps you awake next to the baby, so it doesn't interfere with baby's sleep. And, don't let the baby sleep alone.
2. Safe sleeping environment
Keep babies from the environment exposed to secondhand smoke when they are asleep, both from people who smoke or from objects that are exposed to cigarette smoke, such as clothes, pillows, or blankets. Some studies show that babies who sleep with parents who smoke can be at a higher risk of experiencing sudden death (SIDS).
Also, if your baby is new, keep him away from pillows, blankets, or other objects on the bed. It is feared that these objects can cover the baby's airway so that the baby has difficulty breathing.
Also, keep babies under 1 year old sleeping next to young children. Small children can roll or kick inadvertently during sleep and this can endanger your baby. As well as, keep pets out of bed and your baby.
3. Safe bed
Use a comfortable bed and a flat surface. Remember to always put the baby to bed, not on the couch or something. If you are afraid of a baby falling from a mattress, you can put a mattress on the floor and cover it with a carpet or pillow on the side. If the bed is beside the wall, give a barrier between the baby and the wall with the pillow. If you want to use a blanket while sleeping, choose a lightweight blanket and put the blanket on your waist so it won't cover the baby's head.
4. Wear sleepwear that is safe for babies
Adjust baby clothes to the temperature of the surrounding environment. If the weather is cold, you can put layered clothes on the baby so that it gives warmth. Whereas, if the weather is hot, you can put your baby in thinner clothes so the baby is not too hot. In essence, give comfort when the baby sleeps.
5. Pay attention to your own condition
The things that you yourself have to pay attention to when you want to sleep with your baby are:
- Never sleep with your baby if you are under the influence of alcohol or drugs. This can reduce your awareness that there is a baby beside you.
- If you or your partner are smokers, you should change your clothes before sleeping with the baby.
- If you are overweight, maybe sleeping in bed with your baby is not safe. You must be very careful when sleeping with your baby. Or you can put the baby to sleep in a baby crib next to your bed, this is a safer way.
- It's best not to sleep with clothes that have lots of accessories or wear jewelry.
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