Safe Sleeping

Wed, 2 Nov 16

It’s a parent’s worst nightmare: somehow your child gets hurt because you were negligent. But there’s so much advice out there, not to mention those “DO NOT REMOVE UNDER PENALTY OF LAW” tags on your pillows. And the co-sleeping wars! What’s really important?

And the winner is: preventing suffocation. According to a CDC study, the cause of two-thirds of injury deaths in children less than 1 year old—by far the largest cause—was suffocation. Because newborns and young infants can’t easily move around or lift their heads, they are at particular risk.

So here is some advice that goes beyond the normal “do this if it works for you.” Do these things to keep your baby safe!

•      Always put your baby on her back to sleep.
•      Make sure baby’s sleeping surface is firm – don’t put baby down to sleep on soft surfaces like duvets, blankets, or sheepskin.
•      Make sure the baby’s sleeping area is clear: the fitted sheet can’t come loose, and that there are no extra blankets, pillows, or toys around.
•      Eliminate places a baby could get stuck: if he is in a crib, make sure that the mattress fits snugly into the crib with no gaps.
•      Use pajamas and fitted blankets that are the right size for your baby.
•      Make sure to follow the weight restrictions on co-sleepers, play pens, bassinets, and pack-and-plays.
•      Make sure there are no cords or strings around the crib. (We strongly recommend that the Evoz Smart Baby Monitor be permanently mounted to a wall or immobile piece of furniture, with its cord directed and secured safely away from the crib.)
•      Be aware that sheets of plastic – like shopping bags or disposable diaper bags – can be particularly dangerous to babies. Do not put your baby to sleep on a mattress covered in plastic, and carefully dispose of plastic packaging, bags, and balloons.

In addition, here are some other important baby safety precautions:

•      Make sure smoke detectors are installed in your home. If at all possible, maintain a smoke-free home.
•      Take an infant first aid class and learn what to do if there’s a problem.
•      Keep emergency and other important numbers near the home phone, and easily accessible on your cell phone.

Soon enough, your child will be moving around, and then you’ll be deciding how much childproofing to do, a whole new world of worry! Here too, though, there are some risks that stand out from the others: the leading causes of injury death in children over 1 year old are transportation injuries (car accidents) and drowning. So if you do nothing else, double- and triple-check your car seat installation, and make sure your child does not have any unsupervised access to a pool.

Stay safe,
Evoz

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