Often babies do not sleep amazingly well and when they are not sleeping well, you might approach family and friends to get advice on what you could do to make it better. And one piece of advice that they might give you is to change up your baby's sleep position, so sleep them on their tummy. Now, it is true that when babies sleep on their tummy, they do spend longer periods in that deeper sleep and they might be a bit less reactive to noise, but this is not a good thing.
Sleeping a baby on their tummy significantly increases the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS which is the leading cause of death for babies between one month of age all the way up to one year. Now, I do know that when a baby isn't sleeping that well, we do become desperate and we might be willing to do anything.
So in this video, I am going to explain why back to sleep is the safest option and what are the unsafe options for your little ones so you can make an informed decision on what sleeping position you want to use with your baby.
But before we cover sleeping positions for babies, make sure to click on that free PDF document in the description box below to get the free developmental checklist for your baby's first year of life. So what is the safest sleeping position for a baby? Well, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that all babies be put to sleep lying on their back. Now once your little one can independently roll over, so they might roll over immediately when you put them into their cot or bassinet lying on their back, or they might roll over during their sleep, then that is completely fine. You don't need to roll them back over as long as they are sleeping in a safe sleeping environment.
So this means that they are sleeping in a crib, a bassinet or a portable crib with a flat firm surface that's covered by a fitted sheet and there are no soft items in there like bumper cribs or toys or pillars or loose blankets. They also recommend that the baby shares a room, so they sleep on a separate surface but they're in the same room as their parents for the first 12 months of life and at a minimum for the first six months. And that is because room sharing has been shown to reduce the risk of SIDS by almost 50%. So the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that babies sleep on their back for a number of reasons.
Firstly, when a baby is sleeping on their back, they are able to keep their airways clear and it also reduces the risk of a baby choking on vomit or regurgitated milk. And that is because when a baby is lying on their back, the trachea which is the pipe to the lungs sits above the oesophagus, which is the pipe to the stomach. So any regurgitated milk travels along the oesophagus and comes out, but to get into the trachea it needs to go up against gravity, which is quite hard.
So this significantly reduces the risk of a baby choking on vomit or regurgitated milk. Sleeping a baby on their back also reduces the risk of suffocation and overheating.
So what are the sleeping positions which are unsafe for babies? The very first position is sleeping a baby on their tummy. Now they're not quite sure on why sleeping a baby on their tummy significantly increases the risk of SIDS, but what they do know is that when babies are sleeping on their tummy, they are less reactive to noise, they generally have less movement and have a higher arousal threshold, so they need more to actually wake up and they spend longer in that deep sleep. They also experience a sudden decrease in blood pressure as well as heart rate control and this can contribute to increasing their risk of SIDS.
Also when a baby's sleeping on their tummy, they are high risk of choking on vomit or regurgitated milk because of the positioning of the trachea and the oesophagus. So when they are lying on their tummy, the oesophagus, which is the food pipe sits above the trachea, which is the pipe to the lungs and when regurgitated milk or vomit comes out of their oesophagus, it pools at the entrance to the trachea and this can be easily inhaled by your baby while they are sleeping and cause choking. Studies have also shown that when babies are lying on their tummy, they are more likely to re-breathe in their own air, which can lead to carbon dioxide build up and lower oxygen levels. Breathing in your own air can also make it harder for body heat to escape which can cause overheating and overheating is a known risk factor for SIDS. Sleeping a baby on their side is also not a safe position and that is because when a baby is sleeping on their side, they are highly likely and they will roll over onto their tummy which then presents them with the risk factors that are associated with sleeping while lying on your tummy. The American Academy of Pediatrics has also identified that swapping between different sleeping positions can actually increase the risk of SIDS.
So if your little one traditionally sleeps on their back and then for a nap someone switches it so that they sleep on their tummy, they're at higher risk of SIDS. So it's really important that you always place your baby on their back for sleep. Now, if your little one is finding sleep difficult, make sure you click on this video where I go through seven tips to help a newborn sleep, which are really easy to implement and should improve your little one's sleep. Make sure you click on that free PDF document in the description box below and I will see you next week where I'll share more parenting tips and tricks.
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