When can the baby sleep with a blanket?

• keeping the lights dim;
• not to speak a lot and to have your voice quiet;
• putting your baby to sleep once he or she gets fed and diapered;
• not swaddling your infant if he or she is not in need of it;
• not playing with your baby.

Your baby will begin to realize that nighttime is for sleeping.

Will it be fine to allow my baby to stay asleep covered with a quilt during the night?

Unless your infant has reached 12 months of age, covers are not supposed to be put in the crib – irrespective of if your baby is playing or asleep. The primary cause is that covers could raise the chances of suffocation, asphyxiation, or suffering from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). And the same rule goes for cushions, bedspreads, seat cushions, fleeces, cuddly toys, and anything else that’s soft. Simply put, one thing that must be in the crib during the night is your baby.

When is it safe for a baby to sleep with a blanket

The suggestion to avoid using loose covers or any other soft objects in the baby’s bed is really only for the very first 12 months or so of life, according to sleep physician Joanna MacLean, who also is a pediatric respirologist and the medical manager of the sleep lab at Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton. Once the first year is over, when used in a healthy, secure way, covers are less of a risk compared to when your baby was younger. Meaning that one of the multiple charming baby quilts you got as a shower gift might be a great option for your 18-month-old daughter or son now, whereas a queen-size feather quilt might not be. Just remember to choose a small-sized comforter, not one that can get wrapped around the baby’s neck.

When babies become toddlers, they can also get more bonded to comforters or soft toys. After the age of 12 months, it also becomes safer to keep a favorite soft toy in the baby’s bed, MacLean says. “Choose a suitable size, like a small soft toy without small pieces that can get detached.” Also, avoid overstuffing the crib – otherwise, you may end up having to cram in an entire zoo of favorite soft animals once your kid spends the night away from home.

Whereas it’s fine to use a quilt to cover a toddler, actually making a one- or two-year-old child remain under it can be challenging. “Little people do a lot of rolling over in their cribs,” MacLean notes. “Most of them are not going to be able to stay covered, in fact.”

• Get your baby dressed right:

During the winter, the most effective method of making sure your little one remains warm is by dressing them in “easy to put on and take off” clothing layers. Rather than overwhelming your baby with heavy or woolly clothes, dress him or her in a couple of light layers of warmer clothing that can be taken off with ease during diaper changing. One good rule of thumb is to clothe your baby with one layer extra than you are wearing.

• Adjust the room temperature correctly:

In order to ensure that your baby’s environment is not too hot or too cold, attempt to keep his or her bedroom at a pleasant temperature ranging from 18 to 20 degrees Celsius (59 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit). Try to use a room thermometer to verify that your baby’s nursery is maintaining a comfortable, safe temperature. The room temperature should be ideally cozy for a lightly dressed grown-up.

• Wrap your child or use a sleeping bag:

At times, when the weather is excessively cold, dressing your baby in a one-piece is not sufficient to ensure that he or she stays warm. In order to give your baby a cozy, relaxing sleep on these freezing nights, you will have to swaddle him or her in a warm, swaddling cover. In case your baby is kicking the covers away quite frequently, you can place him in a sleeping bag (also known as a carry blanket) to sleep.

• Keep the breeze away from your baby:

The location of the baby’s bed in the room will also influence the level of comfort your little one will feel while sleeping. Locate the baby crib or bassinet a number of feet from air vents, draughty windows, fans, and exterior walls. In addition, shut all windows and doors to stop cold air from getting into the room.

• Use a firm mattress:

In order to get your baby’s crib to stay warm from the bottom up, try using a firm baby mattress that’s topped with a well-fitted, watertight mattress cover. Mattresses made from too soft material not only expose your baby to the danger of suffocating, but they also raise the chances of him becoming unwell due to the cold air getting into the mattress. Therefore, it is preferable to make sure that you prevent them.

• Keep your baby’s head and hands protected:

Given that babies are prone to losing a significant amount of heat via their head and hands, keeping a set of warm, soft infant beanies and a couple of lighter mittens is essential to offer your baby added thermal comfort. However, you should have an additional set of mittens ready for your baby just in case he or she is a thumbsucker at heart. In addition, you might want to consider warming your feet by wearing a pair of socks.

• Make certain to warm up the crib before placing the baby in it:

Once you observe that the home is overly cool, you may want to take into consideration preheating the baby’s crib to offer your baby a place to sleep that is both warm and comfy. For this purpose, lay a hot water bottle or electric heater pad on top of the baby’s bed for a minimum of 30 minutes before you put your baby in it. The key is to remove it before placing your baby in it to ensure you don’t overheat or burn your baby.

Take advantage of these tips to protect your babies as they sleep:

Tip 1

Lay your baby in a crib alone, on its back, at ALL sleep times.

Tip 2

Keep using a sturdy, flat sleeping pad every time. Auto seats and any other seating equipment, rockers, wedges, and equipment that places the baby in an angled posture is NOT SECURE for regular sleep.

Tip 3

Use a solid sleep pad with a sturdy crib mattress topped with a fitted sheet.

A crib, bassinet, or wearable crib/play area that complies with Consumer Product Safety Commission and ASTM International (previously the American Society for Testing and Materials) safety testing guidelines is suggested. Furthermore, parents and healthcare providers are encouraged to check to make sure the item has not been issued a recall.

Tip 4

Sharing a room, but do not share a bed.

Co-Sleeping: This is when one parent and one child are sleeping at a “sensory” interval between each other, which means each can recognize that the other is around by contact, sight, or even scent. (Co-sleeping is on occasion also known as sleep-sharing).

Room-sharing and bed-sharing are kinds of co-sleeping:

Room-sharing: this is when the parents share a crib in the room, a bassinet or portable bassinet close to the bed, a separate crib secured to the bed, or alike setup.
Sharing the bed: this is when parents share their bed with their kids (sometimes referred to) as a “family bed”. This is NOT suggested as a way to sleep safely. Different medical teams in the U.S. caution parents against putting their babies in adult beds to sleep, as this presents a severe health and safety risk. Bed-sharing poses risks of suffocation, strangulation, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) for babies. Research indicates that bed-sharing is the most common way infants die, particularly those under 3 months of age.

Tip 5

Prevent secondhand smoke exposure while pregnant and once your baby is born. Do not smoke near pregnant women or infants. Establish strong policies for smoke-free apartments and automobiles. Remove second-hand tobacco smoke from any place where children and other nonsmokers spend time.

Where should a newborn sleep?

New parents are frequently advised to have their baby sleep wherever he or she sleeps most soundly, but this is actually not great advice. In fact, though, there are safer places for your baby to sleep, and locations that can be riskier.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, places your baby is supposed to sleep:

• In a bassinet, crib, or cradle that is near the mom’s bed.
• On their back, rather than on their side or tummy.
• On a sturdy sleeping pad, like a firm mattress, topped with a well-fitting sheet.
• With no soft items (cushions and toys) or loose linens (covers and sheets) in his or her bassinet, crib, or roll away.
• Also, be careful not to let your baby get overheated while sleeping.

Babies should sleep in a bare crib

An astonishing 73 percent of mothers surveyed said they put at least one item in their baby’s crib. The top item was a pacifier (59 percent), followed closely by bumpers (35 percent), stuffed animals (23 percent), and pillows (8 percent). These are all choking hazards for infants up to one-year-old and can increase the risk of SIDS fivefold, regardless of the baby’s sleeping position, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

To be fair, mothers can sometimes get a mixed message. When women go to a baby store or look in a catalog or magazine, they see bumpers, covers, and stuffed animals and feel they need to buy them to be good parents.

When setting up your baby’s bed, remember that bare is best. The only thing you should have in the crib is a fitted blanket. Don’t put pillows, stuffed animals, sleep sacks, or sleep wedges (they pose as much of a suffocation risk as pillows) or pillows in the crib, and don’t put bed pads that are associated with suffocation and strangulation of infants.

Make sure you lay your baby on his or her back to sleep always

28 percent of all moms claim to lay their newborns on their bellies to sleep, a routine behavior that often endangers babies at a greater risk for SIDS. Furthermore, 47 percent of moms who place their baby at this risk actually are doing it by the time their newborn reaches 3 months of age. In fact, typically, that first four months is the period of peak exposure to the SIDS hazard.

Be cautious about co-sleeping

Co-sleeping, or sleeping together with the baby on the same bed surface, is widely practiced. Sixty-five percent of moms have ever co-slept with their baby, while 38 percent of them do it routinely. The majority of these moms are concerned about their baby’s risk of choking by accident, yet they still do it. The reason why? For the sake of getting their baby to sleep, to facilitate nursing, to establish a connection with the baby, as well as simply because the infant won’t sleep anywhere else, according to them.

But bed-sharing is dangerous to life. Research indicates that approximately one-half of all baby choking deaths happen in an adult’s bed. In comparison to sleeping in a crib, the total fatality risk is over 40 times greater for babies sleeping with a parent. “There are a number of risks in a grown-up bed that can cause a baby to choke, everything from a not so firm mattress and huge cushions to fleecy bedspreads and additional comforters,” Carr states. “Parents also falsely think they are gentle sleepers and will wake up if they roll over on their baby, but that’s actually not the case with so many tragedies.”

Conclusion

While it seems improbable, there’s a possibility that a doll or soft toy will fall on your baby’s face and choke him or her to death. And sadly, these types of tragic events have been on the increase: in 2010, over 600 newborns died from being accidentally choked or suffocated in their beds, and that number has more than doubled from 2000.

The real figure might be actually higher, as soft toys and sheets may also play a part in some of the more than 2,000 SIDS-related fatalities annually.

Keeping your baby’s crib clean of messes, as well as toys and “lovies”, maybe the surest way to prevent SIDS.