Safe Sleep and Crib Safety are joined together. You cannot think of one without the other for your baby. Sleep is very much essential for your child’s growth. Safe sleep can help your child protect from sudden-infant-death-syndrome (SIDS) and other diseases. SIDS means the sudden death of below one-year-old baby without any explanation. Creating a safe sleep environment will lower the risk of sudden infant-death-syndrome (SIDS). On the other hand, a crib is the safest place for a baby to sleep. That’s why you need to think about the crib safety as well.
Safe Sleep Tips for your Baby
You should take care of the following things to create a safe sleep environment for your child.
General Safety
You should ensure the general safety of your baby for good sleep. You won’t get peace of mind if there is a risk of the mosquito bite or flies or cockroaches. So you take measure to protect your baby from those. Also, you need to protect your child from your pets for ensuring better safety.
Sleep on their back:
The crib certified from JPMA is the safest area for a baby to sleep on. Place your baby on their back to sleep on. Do not let them sleep on their tummy or their side. Sleeping on their back will reduce the chances of SIDS.
Placing of the crib
Probably the first thing is to find out space before buying a crib. The ideal place to keep a crib is in the center of the room. Do not position the crib near a window or door. It can disturb your baby’s sleep when shutting or be opening them.
Bed share
Share your bed with baby is a typical scenario for many families. Many mothers argue that they can easily feed their baby to get more sleep throughout the night. The risk of SIDS is higher for the baby when sharing a bed with a person who smokes, drinks or uses drugs. You should not bed-share. Sleep separately. Only bring your child into your bed when you breastfeed them. Let your child sleep in their crib. Place the crib nearer to your bed so that you can observe them face to face.
Sleep on Carrier
Do not let your baby sleep in his carrier or strollers. As soon as your child falls asleep, take them out of the strollers and place them in the crib.
Avoid sleeping on a sofa
Do not put your baby on a couch, soft mattress, waterbed or other soft surfaces. A sofa is a dangerous place for your child to sleep though you feel you are keeping an eye on the baby. Any time something can go wrong. Avoid excessively soft bedding or extra bedding like bumpers and pillows.
Avoid over Dressed
Make sure your child is not overdressed while sleeping. Use only lightweight wraps. The infant should be lightly clothed for sleeping. Overheating is another cause for SIDS. So make sure your baby doesn’t get too hot when asleep.
Avoid Smoking
Do not let anyone smoke in the same room as your child resides. It is not healthy as well as creates suffocation. Smoking during pregnancy and after birth increases the risk of SIDS.
Head and Face uncovered
Make sure that the head and face of your baby is uncovered while sleeping. It allows your child not to overheat. Sleeping your child with their head-and-face uncovered is the proper way from overheating. It reduces the risk of suffocation too.
Crib Safety Tips
You need the crib to be as safe as possible. To help keep your baby safe, use a good quality crib, with updated features.
Here some of the tips to ensure about Crib Safety
The hardware of the Crib
Your child crib should be made of solid wood. You must follow the manufacturers’ instructions when assembling the baby crib. You should buy and assemble the crib at least one month before your expected date. It gives you enough time to put the crib together. Poorly hardware, loose materials can hamper your baby’s safety. Sometimes, you need to inspect the crib for any missing hardware, screws, bolts or any loose materials. Check these parts at least once a week. Because regular use sometimes loosens the crib. Also, make sure there are no rough edges, and your crib has lead free paint.
Well-fitted mattress
Make sure you use a good quality mattress. The mattress should tightly fit the crib. Make sure there is no gap between the mattress and the frame to avoid any trap. You should avoid your baby to sleep on a soft surface. Soft bed or mattress can pose a suffocation hazard. So, find the best crib mattress for your baby. The position of mattress should at least two feet below the top rail. You must adjust the mattress level as your child grows. Lowering the mattress level will help you child falling out of the crib. You can cover the mattress with a single sheet. It is better if your sheet is waterproof.
Crib Safety Certificate
The US Consumer-Product-Safety-Commission (CPSC) has set clear guidance for the Crib producers. All the cribs must meet the national security requirements summarized by the American-Society-for-Testing and Material. Nowadays all the cribs that are sold comply with the safety regulations.
Slats of the Crib
Make sure the slats are not too far. Check the Crib bar whether they are 2 & 3/8 inches apart. You should not use wider slats. You should avoid if a crib does not meet the current safety standard. Crib safety will protect your child from getting hurt.
Defective Cribs or drop side cribs
Defective includes dropping sides. They are banned in the United States. Do not use a crib with drop side rails. It causes a child to stumble and fall out. Another defective could be loose slats, sharp hardware, etc. that could injure a baby.
Avoid using excessive toys, bumpers or pillows
Do not hang anything on or over an infant’s crib. Toys, bumpers and extra pillows in the baby crib sets can cause your baby to suffocate. It enhances the risk of SIDS. You should not place anything in the baby’s sleep area. If using a baby monitor, make sure they are all out of your child’s reach. Never put any item that has cords, string. Sometimes toys, pillows or bumpers may help the baby in climbing out. So you need to remove them from the crib for ensuring better safety of your child.
Old or used Cribs
Do not use old or modified cribs even you are on a tight budget. You should not even fix a broken or defective crib. Cribs that are before June 2011 are not safety compatible due to change in security standards. Used cribs create a great portion of and deaths. So, it is better to avoid them. Buy the best cribs that do not need any repairs and at the same time meets the current safety standards.
For more on crib safety tips, please visit here.
Bottom Line
All well if your baby sleeps well. For ensuring better sleep of your baby, you need to ensure for a Safe Crib. Along with the above crib safety tips will help you bring the sleeping environment for your baby.