Sleeping with your baby can help you sleep better because you don't have to get up every time your baby needs to be breastfed, comforted or given a pacifier. The Danish Health Authority recommends that parents let their baby sleep in the same room as them for at least the first 6 months. The baby can be placed in their own bed, bedside next to the parents' bed or lie with the parents in bed.
Breastfeeding counselor Sara Degn gives you some good tips for good and safe co-sleeping.
Safe co-sleeping
- If the child is in his or her own bed, he or she can get up from the parents' bed. This is especially true if the child sleeps in a bedside cot. The child's bed should contain nothing but a mattress and the child's duvet. Teddy bears, blankets, pillows and other items should be put away.
- If the child sleeps in the parents' bed, the child should have the same space around him as if the child slept in his own bed.
- The child must not be placed between the parents. Inform your partner that the child will sleep with you in the bed. Some families choose to split up completely for a period of time.
- Siblings and pets are not recommended to sleep in the bed if the baby also sleeps there.
- Make sure your baby cannot fall between the bed and the wall, or the bed and baby cots.
- Never let your child sleep in your bed without supervision. The child can roll out of bed. You can, for a period of time, remove the legs of your bed, so that the bed is on the floor, and therefore there is not so far down to the floor if the child should fall out of bed.
Also read the article “How to help your child sleep”
When the child sleeps in the same bed
- Put the baby to sleep on his back.
- Do not place your blanket over your child. Your child can quickly get too hot if you share a blanket.
- Your bed should not be too soft, and therefore not a waterbed.
- Mothers are welcome to let their babies fall asleep on top of them after breastfeeding or bottle feeding. It is important that the mother has good support in the back and under both arms. The baby's head should be higher than the baby's bottom. If the baby falls asleep on top of the mother, make sure that the baby is not wearing too much clothing. When the mother and baby take a nap together, they warm each other, so the baby should be lightly dressed, and the mother should not wear clothes with straps or anything else that could be a choking hazard for the baby.
NB. Not everyone feels comfortable with this. But it is natural for the mother to fall asleep while breastfeeding. When she wakes up again, she can take the baby away and let him sleep next to her, on his back.
- Mother is welcome to fall asleep while breastfeeding lying down. The baby is also welcome to fall asleep, and if the baby falls asleep before mother, mother can take the baby off and let him roll over on his back.
It is not recommended to co-sleep if:
- The parents take strong sleeping pills.
- The parents have taken narcotics.
- The parents have been drinking alcohol.
- The parents smoke.
- The parents are VERY tired.
- The parents have a high BMI.
Why co-sleeping?
- Good way for closeness and connection.
- Co-sleeping is very natural and in other countries it is practiced on a large scale.
- Co-sleeping is definitely not for everyone, and it's totally okay if you don't co-sleep.
- When co-sleeping no longer works, there can be several reasons, such as the parents feeling like they are waking the child up at night and vice versa.
- NB: You should never do anything that you are unsure of, or something that you do not think is safe enough.
Also read the article “Breastfeeding – Signs that your baby is hungry”
Benefits of letting baby sleep in the same bed
- Baby and mother lie close together at night.
- It is easy for the mother to breastfeed the baby when they are close together.
- A study has shown that a baby who lies close to its mother has a more stable breathing, temperature and heart rate.
- Another study has shown that children who sleep close to their mother breastfeed for longer.
Co-sleeping can work really well for some families, and for some it doesn't. You have to do what works for you in your family. We are not all the same and some children have different needs and that's okay.