Why You Shouldn't Co-sleep With Your Newborn Baby

The question whether it is good to co-sleep with a newborn baby is well answered by recent research that points out that it is undesirable and has accounted for a large number of cot deaths. Co-sleeping with your newborn baby has been found to increase the incidence of sudden infant death syndrome fivefold; the safest place for a baby is a crib or cot in the same room.

Sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS is the unexplained death, usually during sleep, of a seemingly healthy baby less than a year old. Some of the factors that cause SIDS are brain abnormalities, low birth weight and respiratory infection. SIDS could also be caused by sleeping on the stomach or side, sleeping on soft surfaces and sleeping with parents. Sleeping with parents could cause SIDS partly because there are more soft surfaces to impair breathing. 

Co-sleeping with your newborn is undesirable during the first 6 months as it increases the chances of the baby getting heated in your bedding thereby increasing the risk of sudden infant death syndrome. Parents and newborn should never sleep together especially when you or your spouse smokes, drinks alcohol or takes medications and drugs that affects the memory. You could then easily forget the baby and roll on to him/her.

Co-sleeping with a newborn baby is also highly desirable when you are extremely tired or have a sleep disorder like sleep apnea where you could be in deep sleep and forget to wake up when you roll on the baby. All these factors make it desirable to keep the baby in the cot or crib in the same room rather than the bed for at least 3 months on birth.

This does not mean that you have to avoid bringing your baby into your bed to feed or cuddle them but once you have fed your baby he/she should be returned to their cot. Remember that this does not mean that mothers should totally avoid co-sleeping and adopt much riskier practices such as feeding in chairs or sofas where the risk of suffocating the baby is far higher.

Sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS can be avoided by letting the baby sleep in a crib or cot in the parent’s bedroom; adult beds are not safe for babies as they could get trapped and suffocated between the headboard slats, the space between the mattress and the bed frame, or the space between the mattress and the wall. Also a baby can suffocate if a sleeping parent accidentally rolls over and covers the baby's nose and mouth.

It would also help to avoid SIDS by making the baby sleep on his/her back rather than the stomach or side; however this is not essential when your baby's awake or able to roll over both ways without help. Also    advise sitters and child care personnel not to use the stomach position to calm an upset baby.

Next use a firm mattress and avoid placing your baby on thick, fluffy padding; also avoid leaving pillows, fluffy toys or stuffed animals in the crib that could interfere with breathing if your baby's face presses against them.

As a last note understand one core message that the safest place for a baby to sleep for the first six months is in a crib or cot in the same room as a parent.

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