Why Should Babies Sleep in Baby Cot and Not with Parents?

Exhausted by sleepless nights, mothers often take their babies to sleep with them in bed, thinking this is a safe practice. The data, however, shows that 50 percent of babies who died from sudden death syndrome were in bed with their parents.

Experts warn the safest sleeping place for a baby is a baby cot beside the parent’s bed. There were a number of infant deaths when the parents slept with them on sofa. British experts found that parents were aware of the dangers related to sleeping with their babies in one bed, but they were not informed about other places in home.

The study says cot deaths were greatly linked to alcohol and drug abuse. Also, sleeping on a pillow is a big risk for your baby.

The study author, Prof. Peter Fleming from Bristol University says that many parents get up in the middle of the night to feed their baby on a sofa or an armchair, thinking it is safer than breastfeeding in bed. He warns that this is a mistake. It’s crucial that parents don’t sleep with their baby beside them on a sofa because it is very risky. Dr. Fleming warns this is 25 times more risky than sleeping with baby beside you on the bed. Parents should get their baby back into baby cot after feeding.

More than 300 babies in Britain die every year from sudden death syndrome.

Source of the image: flickr.com/photos/treehouse1977.