Newborn Sleeping Positions

Newborns need a lot of sleep. While this helps the child in his/her overall health and growth process, it also gives you a little rest to the new mother. However, you need to consider if your child safe while sleeping. This may sound a bit strange and out of place, because a baby can’t be safer than when he/she is sleeping soundly. You might be thinking how your baby can not be safe while sleeping. What you miss here is that the position in which you make your baby sleep, which is of utmost importance to his/her safety. If your baby is not lying down in a correct position, it may add on to SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). Infants are fragile and sensitive, so any kind of compromise with their sleeping position or sleeping place may cause them to suffer in future. It is important for the parents to get to know the right position for their babies to sleep, in order to save them from any risks whatsoever. This article will provide you few tips on safe sleeping positions for your baby.
Safe Infant Sleeping Positions

• Provide a firm and proper bedding or mattress for your child to sleep. The bed or the crib where your baby is going to sleep should be properly and firmly laid down without anything loose lying on it.
• Make your baby lie down on his/her back and not on their stomach while sleeping. Research has proved that making your baby sleep on his/her back may lower the risk of SIDS.
• Remove all pillows, quilts, comforters, sheepskins, stuffed toys and other soft or furry items from the area where the baby is going to sleep. These items may lead to choking or suffocation for the baby.
• If your baby is a preemie, consult your pediatrician to know about any other sleeping position. If your preemie went through any health hazards like respiratory distress, consulting a doctor will be a better option, to decide the right sleeping position for him/her.
• Purchase a newborn sleeping pillow to keep your baby from rolling down the bed, or to keep him/her from changing their position and moving from his/her back to stomach, which may cause breathing problems and choking.
• Use a sleeping suit other than a blanket. It will remove all risks of suffocation and also will keep your baby warm. Blankets may make your baby grasp for breath. If at all you are using a blanket, put your baby with their feet at the tip of the crib, and make sure their head remains uncovered.
• Do not place your baby on a waterbed or sofa or any other soft mattress, soft surface or pillows for sleeping. This may lead to suffocation.
• If you choose to make your baby sleep on the same bed while nursing, care should be taken that the baby sleeps in a non-prone position. Soft surface or loose covers should be avoided.