Room temperatures are important for your baby because unfortunately it has been linked to cot death and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, also known as SIDS. When you put your cot or your moses basket in your bedroom one of the things to think about is positioning. You need to put your cot or your moses basket away from the radiator. The bedding for your cot or moses basket is also really important. You shouldn’t be using duvets, quilts or pillows - they can cause overheating.
One of the things that we recommend to new mums for checking the baby’s temperature is that you put your hand on their body and that will give you a good indicator as to whether they’re the same temperature as you. Also, when you think about it, when you put clothes on your baby or need a nappy, a vest, a baby grow and then it will have a sheet and a blanket over the top so it always needs one more layer than you’ve got on yourself.
It’s lovely to have the baby in bed with you for a cuddle or for a breast feed but ideally your baby should be sleeping in the cot or the moses basket so as tempting as it is, pop it back into that cot before it goes to sleep.
One of the reasons we recommend that you don’t sleep in bed with your baby is that your baby can quite easily snuggle under the covers or under the pillow, or in fact one of you can roll on top of your baby and suffocate it.
The same goes for your sofa or your armchair. Having a snuggle with your baby on your chest is all well and good but if you fall asleep your baby could fall onto the floor, which isn’t very nice, or it could snuggle under the cushions and get suffocated.
Drinking and smoking and taking recreational drugs all increase the risks of you rolling onto your baby and not realising you’ve done it, so if you’ve had a couple of glasses of wine with your dinner or if you’ve been out partying the night before, that’s the time definitely not to have your baby in bed with you.
Smoking has many side effects and one of those being the fumes. They’re potentially quite poisonous fumes to your baby so they hang around on your skin and your baby will breathe them in. You need at least an hour between having a cigarette and getting into bed, especially if you’re going to have your baby with you.
About video: Midwife Tracey Owen explains where your new born baby should sleep at home and why.
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