A post on another blog I was surfing, http://ourfamilyporch.blogspot.com/, brought to mind the training I had to take as a licensed childcare provider on SIDS prevention. In her post she reminded me about placing infants on their back to sleep as recommended by pediatricians. Most moms will tell you, it's hard to get a baby to sleep on their back. As a childcare provider, I have to place the child on her back, and if baby rolls, I have to roll her back until she is old enough to roll both ways on her own.
When my daughter, who is 14 was born, it was side to sleep and the nurses in the hospital rolled up recieving blankets and wedged them by her tummy and back on each side to keep her in that position. It was theory then that if a baby was on her back and spit up, she could choke and stop breathing. Things change, don't they?
Here are a few other tips from my Safe Sleeping Class. Don't put anything in the crib with the baby. Stuffed animals and heavy quilts are a suffocation hazzard. If your baby needs a blanket, they recommend using wearable blankets. These have no sleeves or hoods, and zip across the bottom. You should be able to find them at any store that carries baby stuff. The facilitator gave a few away as door prizes.
Never use bumper pads. Not only are they a suffocation hazzard, but a choking hazzard as well. Babies can easily get under them and get tangled. Don't use the foam wedges designed to keep an infant sleeping on their side or back. If the baby manages to move, their face could get wedged into the foam causing suffocation.
Don't use the chords that attach a pacifier to the baby's clothing while they are sleeping, or attach the pacifier to her clothing in any other way, such as a ribbon and safety pin. (Hey, in my business, I've seen it all.) Strangulation and choking hazzard.
Infants should not sleep on couches, in bed with others, or in a water bed. Again, suffocation hazzards and......I have a family in my childcare right now that both parents are police officers. The father took a call when his daughter was an infant to the scene of an infant death. The cause: the young mother had the baby in bed with her and rolled over on her while she was sleeping causing the infant to suffocate. It really hit home for him, since he had a new baby of his own at the time. I know that's a difficult subject for those who practice attachment parenting, but it happens and the tears in this man's eyes when he tells the story of responding to that scene are proof.
Always make sure the bed you are using is safe, not on the recall list and that the slats are a safe distance apart so that baby's head can't fit between them. The mattess should be firm. Soft mattresses pose a suffocation hazzard.
A few misc. facts from the class: SIDS is more common in babies of moms that smoke, are very young, babies with low birth weight, and male infants.
Disclaimer: I am by no means a pediatrician or safe sleep expert. Be sure to ask your doctor for guidelines and do the research on SIDS. Being a well informed parent is the best thing you can do for your child.
When my daughter, who is 14 was born, it was side to sleep and the nurses in the hospital rolled up recieving blankets and wedged them by her tummy and back on each side to keep her in that position. It was theory then that if a baby was on her back and spit up, she could choke and stop breathing. Things change, don't they?
Here are a few other tips from my Safe Sleeping Class. Don't put anything in the crib with the baby. Stuffed animals and heavy quilts are a suffocation hazzard. If your baby needs a blanket, they recommend using wearable blankets. These have no sleeves or hoods, and zip across the bottom. You should be able to find them at any store that carries baby stuff. The facilitator gave a few away as door prizes.
Never use bumper pads. Not only are they a suffocation hazzard, but a choking hazzard as well. Babies can easily get under them and get tangled. Don't use the foam wedges designed to keep an infant sleeping on their side or back. If the baby manages to move, their face could get wedged into the foam causing suffocation.
Don't use the chords that attach a pacifier to the baby's clothing while they are sleeping, or attach the pacifier to her clothing in any other way, such as a ribbon and safety pin. (Hey, in my business, I've seen it all.) Strangulation and choking hazzard.
Infants should not sleep on couches, in bed with others, or in a water bed. Again, suffocation hazzards and......I have a family in my childcare right now that both parents are police officers. The father took a call when his daughter was an infant to the scene of an infant death. The cause: the young mother had the baby in bed with her and rolled over on her while she was sleeping causing the infant to suffocate. It really hit home for him, since he had a new baby of his own at the time. I know that's a difficult subject for those who practice attachment parenting, but it happens and the tears in this man's eyes when he tells the story of responding to that scene are proof.
Always make sure the bed you are using is safe, not on the recall list and that the slats are a safe distance apart so that baby's head can't fit between them. The mattess should be firm. Soft mattresses pose a suffocation hazzard.
A few misc. facts from the class: SIDS is more common in babies of moms that smoke, are very young, babies with low birth weight, and male infants.
Disclaimer: I am by no means a pediatrician or safe sleep expert. Be sure to ask your doctor for guidelines and do the research on SIDS. Being a well informed parent is the best thing you can do for your child.
Labels: child safety, infants, parenting, safe sleeping, SIDS