Is the Family Bed Dangerous?
Suggestions for Creating a Safe Sleeping Environment
(many suggestions also apply to babies who sleep in cribs):
1) Whenever possible, do not put a young baby to sleep alone on an adult bed. Other places for baby to nap include in a sling or front pack on mommy or daddy's chest, in a portable car seat or infant seat (baby should be strapped in and seat should be on the floor), on a blanket on the floor in the room you are in, in a portable bassinet or a crib. If you do put baby to sleep alone on an adult bed, take the precautions mentioned below and also put a baby monitor in the room so you can be alerted to the first sound that baby makes and can go and check to make sure baby is okay.
2) Help your baby avoid falling a long distance from the bed to the floor. Do not assume that portable bed railings that protect baby from falling off the bed will make the bed safe. According to the report, entrapment between portable bed rails and mattresses accounted for nine baby deaths. Avoid crevices between the side rail and the mattress. Consider putting the mattress on the ground. Whether you place your mattress on the floor or a bed frame, push the mattress firmly against the wall. Avoid any space between the mattress and the wall or furniture that sits beside the bed. Check these things daily.
3) Babies have died when they got wedged between the bedrame, headboard or footboard, so make sure your mattress fits tightly, just as you would with a crib. Be sure that you can't fit more than two fingers between the edge of the mattress and the headboard or footboard. If the space is too large, roll large towels and place them in the crevices and fill the opening completely. Even better, if you can, take off the headboard and footboard or--like mentioned above--put your mattress on the floor. If your headboard or footboard has slats, as you would with crib slats, make sure they are no larger than 2 3/8 inches apart so baby cannot slip through and be strangled (also check the slats on bedrails).
3) Put baby to sleep on a firm, flat mattress. Avoid soft surfaces such as sheepskins, futons, beanbag cushions, foam pads, foam sofa cushions, synthetic filled adult pillows, and waterbeds. In the study,
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