Why babies can not sleep with their parents: the recommendations of American pediatricians

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Why children up to 6 months can not share a bed with their parents, than sofas, couches and chairs are dangerous for a child’s sleep, American pediatricians explained in their recommendations.

A picture familiar to many parents: they put a newborn baby in a crib, and he closes his eyes. And then it opens again and bursts into tears. And, perhaps, the only thing that scares more strongly than long sleepless nights, is that a child may not wake up one day.

In the United States alone, approximately 3,5 thousands of babies die each year in a dream, including for reasons related to illness, accidental suffocation, or because of the so-called sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) - the death of a healthy baby from respiratory failure. In another way, this syndrome is also called cradle death. The SIDS was listed in the International Classification of Diseases in the 1975 year, and it was started 15 years before it was studied.

However, the exact causes of death of babies have not yet been established.

Researchers point out the factors that correlate with the syndrome: sleep on the abdomen, too soft bed, poor maternal health and difficult childbirth, problems of prenatal development. Children under six months are most at risk, they account for 90% of all cases.

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Until now, there has been no accurate data on whether sleep in one bed with parents affects the risk of sudden death in the book “Children's Sudden Death. The handbook of the practitioner ”(Unexpected death in childhood. A handbook for practitioners)

But some cases of unexpected, at first glance, death occur due to the negligence of parents. Children die from choking, which is often possible to prevent.

In the same room, but not in the same bed

Photo: depositphotos.com

The members of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AARP) in the framework of the report on the SIDS have compiled based on modern research list of recommendationswhich will help reduce the risk of infant death. The list was presented at the National Conference and Exhibition AARP 24 October 2016. It includes the following items:

• In the crib should be a firm mattress with a tight sheet;
• soft bedding should be avoided: blankets, pillows, soft toys. The bed must be empty;
• children should not be exposed to tobacco smoke, alcohol and drugs;
• In the first six months or a year, it is better for a child to sleep in the same room with his parents, but in his crib. This measure reduces the risk of sudden death by 50%, as confirmed by repeated studies.

“We know how parents are overwhelmed by the care of the newborn, and we want to give them simple and clear guidance on how and where they should put the baby to bed,” says Dr. Rachel Moon, lead author of the report. - Parents should never put the child to sleep on the couch, couch or in an easy chair, it does not matter, alone or with someone. We know that all these surfaces are dangerous for the child. ”

Explaining why a child, at least up to 6 months after birth, and preferably up to a year, should sleep in a separate bed, has an entire chapter in new recommendations.

"There is evidence that sleeping in the same room, but separately from the parents, reduces the risk of sudden death by 50%," the document says, citing statistics.

This circumstance should be decisive in choosing the parents where to put the child, no matter how much one wants to stay with him and breastfeed at night.

The statistics is implacable: the most frequent cases of unintentional suffocation, when a child is accidentally covered with a hand or a blanket, occur in the first 6 months of life, when the infant cannot yet remove the objects that hinder him.

The authors of the report advise to offer the child a pacifier at bedtime, to do all the vaccinations in time, breastfeed and look after him when he is lying on his tummy.

The Academy recommends that doctors openly talk with their parents about how it is customary for those of them to put their baby to bed. Booklets and ads can also play an important role in providing parents with information.

“We want to share this information with parents so as not to scare them, but to explain the real risks posed by an unsafe place to sleep,” explains Dr. Moon. “We know that it is possible to significantly protect a child without spending money on special monitoring devices, but with the help of simple safety precautions.”

Guidance on reducing the risk of SIDS is not the only one issued by the AAS. For example, recently there were updated recommendations regarding the time spent by children and teenagers in front of the TV, monitor or other device screen.

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