Babies are new to this world and require help with just about everything. Even simple tasks that you give no thought to will need to be carefully planned out with a baby. For instance, sleeping becomes a bigger challenge than it is for adults or older children. You can’t put your baby in a bed and expect them to sleep like that – it’s not safe at all!
There are plenty of mistakes parents make when putting their child to sleep, but the biggest of all is not knowing where to lay their child down when they get tired. Sadly, if you do this incorrectly, it can lead to some very serious problems for your baby. With that in mind, here are the best and safest places for a baby to sleep.
A Cot
You should never put your baby to sleep in a regular-sized bed for children or adults. It’s too big, meaning your baby can roll around and fall off it during the night. Instead, they need to sleep somewhere with barriers that can prevent them from falling off or wriggling around too much. A cot will provide just this, giving high walls for a baby to feel protected while they sleep. In all honesty, this is a good bed idea for babies as they get older and start to stand up or crawl around. The high walls make it hard for them to climb out of their bed in the middle of the night.
A Moses Basket
Moses baskets are adorable little basket-shaped places for babies to sleep. They are perfect for newborns and really young babies before they start moving around more and becoming inquisitive. As shown on the Foryourlittleone website, you can find them in many different designs and styles, but they’re all made to be compact, making them ideal to place in a bedroom next to your own bed. The added benefit is that you can lift the basket off the stand, letting your baby sleep while you have to move them around.
Realistically, these are the only two places where it is safe for your baby to sleep. Some parents want to sleep with their babies in their beds to get close to them and develop a bond. As affordable as this seems, it really isn’t that safe at all. You have no control of your or your partner’s movements when you sleep, so you might roll over and suffocate your baby. Likewise, your baby should be put to sleep without too much around them. Don’t fill their cot with soft toys and blankets; keep it bare so there are fewer things that could cover them and stop them from breathing.
Finally, you need to know the importance of laying your baby on its back to sleep. This is medically the safest way for them to go to bed. Sadly, lots of research suggests that stomach sleeping could block the airway and hurt breathing for babies, resulting in sudden infant death syndrome. If you want to keep your baby safe, put them to sleep in either of the options spoken about above, ensuring they aren’t smothered with blankets and toys and are on their backs.
