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Baby Sleep Safety
Newborn babies shouldn’t be expected to sleep through the night from day one. They have tiny tummies that digest milk very quickly and if babies didn’t wake up when they needed feeding they would fail to get the level of nourishment required.
But there are some things you can do to help ensure a safe night’s sleep for your newborn. The Numours Foundation offers the following tips:
- You should never let a newborn baby sleep with plush bedding, blankets or pillows.
- You should put baby to sleep on her back to reduce the risk of cot death (sudden infant death syndrome).
- You should remove stuffed toys from the crib at bedtime.
- Every night you should alternate the side of baby’s head that she sleeps on. This prevents development of a ‘flat spot’ on a favoured side of the head.
Want to Learn more?
Check out our category on SIDS (on the left hand side of the page) because this contains a wealth of safety information for new parents.
Published on October 22, 2009 by
“You should put baby to sleep on her back to reduce the risk of cot death (sudden infant death syndrome).”
My baby likes to sleep lying on his front on my chest with his head on one side. He wont sleep alone in his crib at all! What you said made me concerned about this. I’ll have to research more. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Rechelle
The ‘Back to Sleep’ rule, that advises parents to put babies to sleep on their backs, is very widely supported and it should be followed. However, there has been concern by some parents who followed the rule but awoke to find their baby had rolled himself over onto his side or front. Doctors generally agree that this type of occurrence should not warrant an elevated cause for concern. They feel that if the baby was able to roll over unassisted, he should also have the mobility to get out of an uncomfortable or stressful position should one occur.
I hope this helps.
Hi.. Thank you for sharing this information.
Hi There
thanks for the article !!