Every 2 hours of every day of the year a baby dies in an unsafe sleep environment. It’s vital that parents understand that how and where a baby sleeps are important factors attributing to an infant’s safety. Dr. Michael Goodstein, a Neonatologist in York, Pennsylvania and Medical Director of York County Kids for Cribs, recommends following the ABC’s of safe sleep.
“When we talk about the ABC's of safe sleep we want babies alone, on their back in the crib no exceptions.”
Let’s start with A. Alone. The safest sleep environment for a baby is alone. If your baby is in your bed to feed or comfort, make sure to return the baby to his or her crib for sleeping.
“We want parents to share the room but not share the bed so we want that baby to be really close to mom so that she can feel that closeness with the baby she can just kind of reach over and touch the baby.”
Next, B is for Back. Once the baby is alone in the crib, the safest position for sleeping is the back. This allows for the easiest breathing for a baby.
“The prone position or on the stomach as the safest way to sleep and I think there are a couple reasons for that babies tend to sleep more deeply on their tummies which turns out may be a problem but people were worried about babies spitting up and the concern that they could irate or choke on that spit-up and that could result in an adverse outcome."
Lastly, C is for Crib. Make sure you have the latest, safest crib. Safe Sleep experts agree that it’s best to use a new crib. Make sure to follow the directions exactly while assembling. Once assembled, it should have a firm mattress with a tightly fitted sheet.
If you do use a second-hand crib, use caution. Many older cribs have been recalled while others such as drop side cribs are no longer manufactured.
“Some people like to use antiques and those thing are just dangerous, in recent years there’s been updating on the regulation for the standards for um crib safety and how they should be manufactured and we know that the slot should be no more than two and three eights inches apart. …. Just take a regular small can of soda and if you can push that soda can and you hold it upright and you can push that soda can through the slots than those slots are too wide and you should not use that crib."
Dr. Goldstein had one final thought to share to ensure your baby remains safe: Bare is Best. Keep pillows, bumper pads, quilts, blankets and stuffed toys out of the crib.
“If you want to show people how much you care about your baby, decorate the room not the crib. The crib is really a safety device for your baby it is not for decoration.”
Keeping your child safe is of the utmost importance. Please remember to share the ABC’s of Safe Sleep with anyone caring for your child.
I'm Alexis Phillips for Legal News Network -- your source for safety information.
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