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Common Infant Questions Answered
Expert Answers to Common Newborn Questions
I have been hearing a lot lately about co-sleepers. Is it recommended to have the baby sleep next to you in this manner? And if we did use a co-sleeper for the first three to six months, will we have trouble later trying to get the baby to fall asleep alone once we put her in a crib?
"Co-sleepers are OK," says Dr. John Dorsey, a pediatrician in private practice at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich. "It is really a matter of choice. The red flag is that if a co-sleeper, presumably a parent, smokes next to the child, the risk of SIDS death increases. Another drawback is that the adult co-sleeper often fails to get a good night's sleep. Whether concerned about rolling onto the baby or a baby's constant movement while sleeping, it can cause some pretty poor sleep for the adult. I do recommend that by the seventh month that a baby is put in her crib. Otherwise, she could develop manipulative behavior tendencies regarding sleep patterns." How safe is it to sterilize a newborn's bottles and nipples in a dishwasher? Will it thoroughly sterilize a rubber nipple or should they be boiled? At what age is sterilization of bottles and nipples no longer necessary?
"This is an interesting question," Dr. Fay says. "First of all, in order to sterilize something, it needs to be boiled for a minimum of five minutes, and preferably 10. The water temperature in a dishwasher does not reach the boiling point, and so does not sterilize anything." The real question is, Dr. Fay says, whether or not it is necessary to sterilize thee items. "I have done a pretty extensive literature search on this, and have found no medical studies between 1948 and the present which indicate the need to sterilize bottles and nipples," he says. "There are lots of references in home advice books telling mothers to sterilize and how to do so, without supporting documentation. It looks like this would be a good medical study.
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