Infants: Sleeping safely
Babies spend most of their time sleeping. They can sleep for up to 16 hours or more in a day, spending up to 3 to 4 hours sleeping during each rest period. Therefore taking into account the huge amount of time infants sleep, it is important to find out some safety issues regarding baby’s sleep.
Firstly, co-sleeping with your baby is not safe. For parents who usually fall into deep sleeps, they might accidently crush or suffocate the baby. In addition, babies usually co-sleep together on their parents’ bed, there are heavy quilts and blankets that may accidently be placed over their face and cause babies to suffocate too.
Looking at all these dangers of co-sleeping, try to let your child sleep in a baby nursery bedding. Sleeping in a baby bedding will have no risks of parents crushing their babies. Furthermore, usually in cribs, there shouldn’t be any adult’s heavy quilts and blankets that may cause the baby to choke while sleeping. Therefore, parents are encouraged to get a baby nursery bedding for your little one to sleep in as it is safer than co-sleeping with the baby’s parents.
The use of blankets, too has also been discouraged by many as they are afraid that the blanket may carelessly cover the baby’s head, however some parents are afraid that their baby may catch a cold at night. Actually, there is a safe way of using a blanket that can avoid such incidents from happening during the baby’s rest. Just make sure that when your baby is in the crib, his feet touches the end of the crib and the blanket should not be covered any higher than his chest. In this way, your baby will not be covered by the blanket so easily and it will be safer for your baby when he sleeps at night.
Another way of sleeping safely is to always let your baby sleep on her back. Babies sleeping on their tummy may expose themselves to possibilities of choking when your baby carelessly places his face down onto the mattress. Infants are too weak to turn over or shift themselves out of a dangerous position. Therefore letting your child sleep on her back in the baby nursery bedding will be the safest option.
Some infants sleep better on their tummy because their heart is close to something which makes them feel safe and at ease. However, it is still not advisable to let your child sleep on her tummy until, maybe when she has the strength to be able to toss and turn around in bed by herself.
When your baby is sleeping, try to dress your baby in light sleep clothing to avoid your baby from “overheating”,. The nursery room should be kept at room temperature and in such manner your baby will feel neither too cold nor warm. If the room is too warm, use a fan to lightly cool the area so that your baby will feel comfortable when sleeping.
Look closely at all these factors and examine your baby’s sleeping area carefully. Let your precious one sleep safely and comfortably and you will be able to sleep well throughout the night too!