What Type of Bedding and Sleep Positions Prevent SIDS?

There are some common actions parents can take that are recommended by doctors to help reduce the chances of SIDS.

• Lay your baby on their back to sleep.
• Their mattress should be firm.
• Do not put any pillows or plush toys in the crib.
• Parents should avoid smoking around their baby and make it a rule that no one will smoke in the baby’s presence.
• Doctors also recommend keeping the baby close for the early months by having the crib or bassinet in your room where you can keep a watchful eye on your baby — cosleeping is not recommended.
• Experts believe that breastfeeding can help reduce SIDS by up to 50%, so continue to breastfeed as long as you can.
• The same can be said about immunizations reducing the chances of SIDS by 50%.
• Dress your baby in light comfortable clothes and prevent using heavy blankets that can lead to overheating or worse, suffocation.
• Avoid giving babies honey as this can lead to botulism which is thought to increase the SIDS chances.

Because SIDS happens when babies are sleeping, a lot of attention is paid to bedding and mattresses.

Despite efforts to educate the public on safe sleeping habits for babies, there is still a lot of unsafe practices out there. People buy memory foam mattresses and fill the crib up with stuffed animals, blankets, and crib bumpers. All of these should be kept out of the crib — your baby doesn’t need it and it only adds to the risk of something bad happening.

Infants should be placed on their back on a firm mattress. Avoid mattresses that are soft where the infant may sink and potentially suffocate. Use a fitted sheet and a sleep sack rather than a blanket. The sleep sack will help keep your baby warm on cold nights without the risk of pulling the blanket over his head or getting tangled in it.

While your baby’s bed may look barren to you, resist the urge to add toys and decoratives. Your baby won’t play with them and they only add to the risk. Keep toys, quilts and decorations for the walls and other areas of baby’s room.

You may wonder how firm is firm when it comes to a baby’s mattress? According to Naturpedic, if the mattress feels good to you, it is likely too soft. Your baby’s spine and bones need much more support than yours do. While you’re testing mattresses, make sure to get one that properly fits the crib or bassinet. You don’t want any space between the slats and the mattress — these are places your baby can get stuck or hurt.

Mom Michelle Mak chose a Halo Swivel Bassinet to keep next to her bed. She liked the convenience. “Being able to lower one side to check on him was helpful when I would wake up and want to check if he was okay and breathing,” Mak told Mom.com. She also made sure to get sheets designed for the unique shape of the mattress.

Some parents feel that co-sleeping helps them keep the closest eye on their baby while developing a lifelong bond. This might not be the best idea for a few reasons. “Suffocation and strangulation are environment-driven problems that can be prevented,” Michael Goodstein, MD, told TODAY Parents.

In other words, you can’t control the environment while co-sleeping, there’s too much going on from mattress firmness, blankets, and parents rolling over. There are just too many potential problems. “We may not be able to prevent all SIDS deaths, but we can minimize the risks,” Dr. Goodstein added.

Your bedding alone could increase your baby’s risk of SIDS by 20 times according to Dr. Goodstein. While we all want to have the closest possible bond with our babies, co-sleeping with an infant is not the answer.