Sleep Safety Guide

Cre­at­ing a safe sleep envi­ron­ment for your baby isn’t just about com­fort, it’s about pro­tect­ing your lit­tle one’s life. Fol­low­ing the Amer­i­can Acad­e­my of Pedi­atrics’ rec­om­men­da­tions can pro­tect against sleep-relat­ed risks, and Duly pedi­a­tri­cian Dr. Jonette Beli­ce­na also shares expert guid­ance to help keep your baby safe.

The Risks

All babies under the age of one are at risk for sud­den infant death syn­drome (SIDS). Although the caus­es for SIDS are unknown, it is wide­ly accept­ed that envi­ron­men­tal fac­tors could play a role in keep­ing your baby safe while they are sleep­ing. Because babies have low mus­cle devel­op­ment, they aren’t able to roll away from objects that could inter­fere with their breath­ing. Here’s what you can do to help cre­ate a safe sleep­ing envi­ron­ment for your baby.

Pre­na­tal Care and Reduc­ing SIDS Risk

Con­sis­tent pre­na­tal care sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduces your baby’s SIDS risk by allow­ing your health­care provider to mon­i­tor your baby’s devel­op­ment, address risk fac­tors ear­ly, and pro­vide per­son­al­ized safe sleep edu­ca­tion tai­lored to your fam­i­ly’s needs.

Cre­at­ing a Safe Sleep Environment

Before your baby arrives, dis­cuss any ques­tions about safe sleep prac­tices with your pedi­a­tri­cian. They’ll pro­vide rec­om­men­da­tions based on your baby’s spe­cif­ic needs, guid­ance on sleep posi­tion­ing, and tips for cre­at­ing a safe sleep environment.

Room Shar­ing

Keep­ing your baby’s sleep space in your room (but not in your bed) cuts SIDS risk in half. This helps you mon­i­tor the baby’s breath­ing and move­ment and respond quick­ly to concerns.

CPSC Safe­ty Stan­dards for Baby Sleep Products

Only use sleep prod­ucts that meet Con­sumer Prod­uct Safe­ty Com­mis­sion require­ments. Cribs must meet cur­rent safe­ty stan­dards, and bassinets should be specif­i­cal­ly designed for infant sleep. Play yards should only be used for sleep if approved for overnight use. Before set­ting up your baby’s sleep space, vis­it CPSC​.gov for cur­rent recall infor­ma­tion. You can reg­is­ter your prod­ucts to receive auto­mat­ic recall notifications.

Space Prepa­ra­tion

The safest sleep envi­ron­ment has only a firm mat­tress and a fit­ted sheet, noth­ing else. No blan­kets, pil­lows, bumpers, or toys should be in the crib. The mat­tress should fit snug­ly with no gaps. Your baby’s sleep space should look emp­ty to an adult; this ​“bare” envi­ron­ment is the safest pos­si­ble set­up for your lit­tle one.

Safe vs. Unsafe Sleep Envi­ron­ments for Babies

Back Sleep­ing

Always place your baby on their back to sleep. This sin­gle action is the most pow­er­ful way to pre­vent SIDS. Back sleep­ing keeps air­ways clear and reduces risk dra­mat­i­cal­ly. When your baby starts rolling over, con­tin­ue plac­ing them on their back ini­tial­ly, but once they can roll both ways inde­pen­dent­ly, it’s safe to let them choose their posi­tion. Keep the crib com­plete­ly clear of all objects through­out this process.

Safe Sleep Checklist

Room Tem­per­a­ture: 68 – 72°F

• Keep the room com­fort­ably cool for you in light clothing
• Use a room ther­mome­ter to mon­i­tor temperature

Bed­ding and Clothing:

• Firm mat­tress with only a fit­ted sheet
• Sleep sacks
• One more cloth­ing lay­er than you’re wearing
• No hats

Look for signs Baby is Overheating:

• Sweat­ing or damp hair
• Hot chest
• Flushed, red skin

Remove Sleep Haz­ards Such as:

• Blan­kets, pil­lows, bumpers, toys
• Loose sheets or clothing

Let­ting babies sleep on soft bed­ding increas­es their suf­fo­ca­tion risk by 16 times.

Dai­ly Prac­tices to Pro­mote Safe Sleep

Breast­feed­ing Pro­tec­tion & Paci­fi­er Timing

Breast milk strength­ens your baby’s immune sys­tem and pro­motes lighter sleep pat­terns, help­ing babies wake when need­ed. Breast­feed­ing is rec­om­mend­ed for the first 6 months, then con­tin­ue to breast­feed along­side sol­id foods for up to 2 years or longer. 

Research shows paci­fiers sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduce SIDS risk, even if they fall out dur­ing the night. For safe paci­fi­er use, nev­er rein­sert it if it falls out dur­ing sleep, avoid any strings, clips, or attach­ments, and don’t force it if your baby refus­es the pacifier.

If you’re breast­feed­ing, wait to give your baby a paci­fi­er until they’re about one month old. If you’re for­mu­la feed­ing, you can start using a paci­fi­er right away. If your baby refus­es the paci­fi­er, try dif­fer­ent shapes but nev­er force it.

Tum­my Time for Development

Super­vised tum­my time strength­ens your baby’s mus­cles, pre­vents flat head syn­drome, and pro­motes healthy motor devel­op­ment. Start with just a few min­utes, try to work up to 15 – 30 min­utes a day by 7 weeks old. Try using col­or­ful toys or dif­fer­ent sur­faces to keep them engaged, and always stay with your baby dur­ing tum­my time.

Emer­gency Sit­u­a­tions & What to Avoid

If Baby Falls Asleep in Car Seat or Swing

Move baby to a crib imme­di­ate­ly when you’re able to do so. Pro­longed sit­ting can com­pro­mise breath­ing and increase suf­fo­ca­tion risk.

When Baby is Sick

Safe sleep becomes even more crit­i­cal dur­ing ill­ness since res­pi­ra­to­ry infec­tions increase SIDS risk. Keep plac­ing your baby on their back to sleep, and mon­i­tor their tem­per­a­ture close­ly. Con­tact your pedi­a­tri­cian if you have any con­cerns about your baby’s health or sleep patterns.

Over­heat­ing Emer­gency Actions

If your baby shows signs of over­heat­ing, take imme­di­ate action. Remove extra cloth­ing, move to a cool­er room, and use a fan point­ed away from your baby. Offer flu­ids and con­tact your pedi­a­tri­cian if symp­toms persist.

Unsafe Prod­ucts to Avoid

Nev­er use weight­ed blan­kets, swad­dles, or oth­er sleep prod­ucts. Avoid inclined sleep­ers with angles greater than 10 degrees. Skip bumper pads and posi­tion­ing devices entire­ly. They cre­ate safe­ty risks for your baby and offer no proven benefits.

Fol­low­ing these evi­dence-based guide­lines gives you and your baby the best chance for safe, qual­i­ty sleep. Con­sis­ten­cy is key, so fol­low safe sleep prac­tices for every nap and night­time. When in doubt, choose the safest option and trust your instincts, don’t hes­i­tate to ask questions.

Speak with your pedi­a­tri­cian at your next appoint­ment to dis­cuss con­cerns about your baby’s sleep pat­terns, ques­tions about safe sleep prod­ucts, SIDS risk fac­tors, or need per­son­al­ized sleep safe­ty guid­ance. Sched­ule an appoint­ment with Dr. Beli­ce­na or anoth­er Duly pedi­a­tri­cian today. >