Here are a few tips to keep your child safe while sleeping:
- Make sure that your infants are put to bed on their backs and not on their stomachs.
- Infants should sleep on a mattress that is hard. Soft bedding can lead to suffocation.
- Remove any stuffed toys or heavy blankets from the sleep area.
- Consider using single-piece sleep attire, sometime called an onesie, that would keep the baby warm without any covers or blankets.
- Clear everything from around the crib. Infants have been strangled on cords from blinds.
- The slats on cribs should not be far enough apart for the infants to stick their head through.
- Use thin bumper pads instead of the thick fluffy ones.
- Instead of asking other mothers or grandmothers for advice, consult your doctor. The times have changed and so has the advice.
- Be aware that cribs that are bought at garage sales or one that you have stored in the attack might not meet current guidelines of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
- Putting infants to bed on their sides is also dangerous; it is very easy for them to roll onto their stomachs.
- Make sure that caregivers know what you do about putting your infant or baby to bed. Many do not know, even at established day-care centers.
- Pacifiers are O.K. to use when placing a baby down to sleep, but they should not be left in the crib after they fall asleep.
