For babies who are younger than six months, the best place is to Sleep is on their back and in a separate cot near to their parents. This would apply to the day time nap as well as sleeping during night time. As a new parent, there can be tendencies to ensure that the Baby sleeps properly with all the essential items such as a soft bed, blankets, bumps and so on. But the question is how safe is all of these items for the baby?

• The most important thing is to get rid of all this stuff while the baby is sleeping. All the baby would need is a proper fitted bed sheet on the cot and full dressed clothing. There is no need for those pillows, soft toys, wedges or sleep positioners and crib bumpers. Though they may look very fascinating but have the equal risk of posing a suffocation hazard to the baby if proper care is not taken. Hence as a parent one must control their emotions while purchasing any new item for the baby and think logically whether it is really the need of the hour.
• Making a baby sleep on the stomach is one of the risk factors and an increase in the risk of sudden infant death. The risk of SIDS is higher in the initial four months of the baby. Those who sleep on their stomach have difficulty with their oxygen level since they cannot even raise their heads during those initial days and hence it leads to SID. It is a must to make your baby sleep on the back. This should be practiced from the start itself since babies can get used to this habit in their later years as well. It is important to make the baby sleep on their back until they attain one year of age.
• Who wouldn’t want the baby to sleep beside them but this is often a mistake done by new parents. Many of them do the bed sharing to make the nursing process easier if the baby wakes up in between or to help make the child sleep properly. There have been studies which showed that half of the infant’s death which happened due to suffocation was when they shared the bed with an adult. There are various risk factors associated with sleeping on the bed with the baby. It can be those giant pillows, mattresses which may not be very firm and use of blankets. Certain parents believe that they are light sleepers and would easily wake up if they rolled over on the baby but it may not be the case always and why wait for such tragic incident to happen. Instead, the best option is to attach the baby’s cot with the adult bed. This can be a smart move for those parents who would want to keep their baby close to them while sleeping. A separate cot for the baby would be helpful in many terms wherein their bed sheet would be firm enough and also there would not be any case of rolling over the baby.
• Making a baby sleep on the couch or on the driver’s seat is a bad option. Since the couches are soft and there can be chances that the baby could roll over and suffocate if there is no one to watch the baby while sleeping. You can bond with the baby before taking them to their crib and once they doze off place them in the crib. Do not nurse your baby on the couch since there can be chances that the mother can doze off while feeding the baby and the baby can roll off after feeding without the mother being aware. Remember it just takes few seconds or a minute for suffocation. It is better to always follow safer practices when it is concerned with the baby. Remember as kids grow up, they outgrow all these risks factors and then you would need not worry much. But it is important to take care of it in the initial months.
• Avoid using blankets for babies who are below one year of age since it can lead to an increase in the risk of SIDS.  Instead of blankets, the safer options you can go in for are sleep sacks or wearable blankets which would keep the baby tight as well as warm. But avoid too many clothing since it can lead to overheating. Once the baby completes 12 months then it is okay for the child to be given blanket or sleep with a toy for comfort. But as a precaution measure, it is always better to make the child sleep without any such items besides him or her.
• When you go in for purchasing a crib for the baby ensure it meets all the safety standards. Avoid using any cribs which have drop side rails. Also if the crib is broken then don’t try to fix it, it is better to discard such cribs. Also while putting your baby to sleep ensure there are no danglers near it or any hanging window cords and electrical wires since it can accidentally get tangled in the baby and choke them.
• While putting your baby to sleep ensure that you dress them lightly. Do not cover their heads with any kind of clothing or hood. Also, remove any strings or ties from their clothing to avoid it from getting tangled. Nowadays there are various clothing options available to make the baby sleep comfortably. Minky blanket has a wide range of baby apparel such as wraps, swaddles, gowns which are light as well as keep the baby warm throughout sleeping time. These apparels are all prepared to keep in mind the safety of the baby.
• It is important to set a sleeping routine for the baby when they are around four to six months of age.  This can be done by reducing their play time around sleeping hours, sing to them or play soft music to bring them to sleep, read some bedtime stories to them, give a warm bath to the baby prior to putting them to sleep.

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