Emotional and psychological reasoning apart one should know that bed-sharing with infants has its perils, a study noted. The study also concluded that bed-sharing with parents can lead to infections and other health risks. Bed sharing constitutes to be the biggest risk sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS, the third leading cause of infant mortality in the US.
However, the study says that co-sleeping would still be a better practice than bed-sharing. Though both these terms are interchangeable, but they do not mean the same.
What is co-sleeping?
Co-sleeping means sleeping in the same room as your infant in proximity explains researcher Trina Salm Ward from the University of Georgia in the US. That means while sleeping, having your baby put in a bassinet, cradle or crib close to your bed in the night.
What is bed-sharing?
Bed-sharing is when you sleep on the same surface as the baby. In her research, Salm Ward discovered the main reasons mothers chose to bed share included breastfeeding, emotional comfort and reassurance, monitoring, better sleep for the infant, family traditions and bonding. However, this isn’t recommended by the experts.
Here are some sleep safety methods a mother should follow to ensure proper sleep for her baby:
• If you are going to place your infant in a crib or a cradle make sure it is placed right next to your bed, so that you can attend to your baby’s needs faster even in the dead of the night.
• ‘Ditch the ultra soft baby mattresses and get one which is firm and doesn’t have any foam or strings coming out of it. A firm mattress is what your baby’s delicate back would need to rest on, says Sonali Shivlani, an Internationally Certified Pregnancy, Lactation and Child Nutrition Counsellor.
• If you co-sleep, take care to avoid the occurrence of any unnatural accidents and make sure you provide your baby with enough space. Be sleep alert so that your hand, leg or pillow doesn’t harm your baby in any way.
• Do not keep a pillow for your baby to sleep on; it can lead to suffocation if your baby’s delicate head sinks in.
• Make sure that the crib you use has firm railings on the sides and the spacing is less than 2 inches so that your baby’s hand or leg doesn’t get trapped in between the gaps.
• To avoid flat head syndrome, make sure you take enough care so that your baby isn’t sleeping facing in one direction for too long. ‘Mothers need to be more attentive here and keep changing the side of the baby’s head. Even keeping your baby straight for too long can make the back of the head flattened,’ says Sonali.
• Remember to remove all the stuffed toys from the crib or cot before you put your baby to sleep to avoid incidences of suffocation.
•Always try to put your baby to sleep on the back to avoid SIDS or sudden infant death syndrome. Know more about SIDS.
• ‘Never keep anything under your baby’s head or on the bed that can elevate the neck during sleep. For the same reason give the pillow and also the horse shoe pillow a miss,’ says Sonali.
• Always keep the baby’s bedding, bedsheet clean. Dust, mite and milk can trap germs and give rise to infections.
The study appeared in the Maternal and Child Health Journal.
With inputs from ANI
Image courtesy: Getty Images
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