Co-sleeping Positions

Keep Baby Safe in Your Co-sleeping Environment

By Lisa A. Goldstein

At around 2 or 3 weeks of age, Lorrie Kim's baby let her parents know that she was only going to sleep in their bed with them. Whenever they put her down alone in her sidecar crib, she'd wake up and cry. Kim would pick her up, nurse her and get her to fall asleep again. She'd stay asleep if Kim held her or lay in bed next to her, but wake up if she felt herself being put down alone, even if Kim had her hand on her.

"Then I learned that sleeping next to her meant that I could nurse without getting out of bed, turning on the night lamp, fetching the Boppy and positioning myself in the chair with [a] nursing stool," says Kim, a Philadelphia, Pa., resident. "I could just stay right there in bed and not even wake up all the way. Sold."

For parents like Kim who choose to co-sleep, here's some advice on how to make it work for your family.

First, it's important to be aware that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has recommended that families avoid co-sleeping given the increased risk of SIDS, says Jodi Mindell, associate director of the Sleep Disorders Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Suffocation is another risk. La Leche League International (LLLI) has questioned the AAP's results, however, advocating the benefits of co-sleeping.

Regardless of opinion, everyone agrees that co-sleeping involves certain safeguards. "I do not advocate bed-sharing without qualifications and when known adverse risk factors are present," says Dr. James McKenna, director of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame.

Dr. McKenna has been studying co-sleeping and breastfeeding and sleeping arrangements in relationship to SIDS risk factors for over 30 years. "I do not recommend it at all to non-breastfeeding mother-baby pairs," he says. "Always, I advocate never putting infants to sleep alone on an adult bed, or alongside other children. I advocate separate surface co-sleeping for all babies and to place babies as close to the parent in another sleep object [like a co-sleeper] or surface as is safe and possible."

Want to see more?

• Check out our Article Library.
• Co-sleeping Considerations: Does Sharing a Bed with Baby Increase the Risk of SIDS?
• Breastfeeding in Bed: What You Need to Know About Co-sleeping
• Sleeping in the Same Bed: The Breastfeeding Co-sleeping Connection
• Talk about it!