Sleeping with your baby

Your picture-perfect view of new parenthood probably involves mom and dad staring lovingly over a crib as the baby sleeps. However, you, especially as a dad, may want to evaluate sleeping options and here's why:

1. The baby-in-crib alone is a relatively recent and distinctly American practice. If you think about it, before multi-room dwellings and back to caveman days, families used to sleep together for warmth and safety. Most of the rest of the world "co-sleeps" and finds it completely natural to do so.

2. Crib death, or SIDS, is a very American phenomenon, and perhaps can be related to the distance mommy is from a struggling baby.

3. And finally, and most importantly for dads: co-sleeping keeps mom close to baby for middle-of-the-night feedings. When we had our first and second babies, they slept with us for the first 6-7 months. In the middle of the night, baby was hungry and baby reached out and had a snack. My wife often said she barely remembered the feeding. Compare that with the story of some of my friends who kept the baby in a crib across the hall. Very often it was the DAD who got up in the middle of the night (wife had baby all day after all and was still recuperating from delivery) and it was DAD who spent 15 minutes at midnight and 4AM warming the bottle and another 15 minutes feeding and burping the baby. Now, I will grant you that middle of the night feedings have a certain romantic glow to them - there you are, the great dad, alone with your thoughts and your new son and daughter in the moonlight... However, after a week of completely interrupted sleep you may get a little tired of this routine, especially when you count the months before "sleeps through the night" is a reality.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Sudden Infant Death syndrome (SIDS) is defined as the sudden, unexplained death of an infant, and is the one of the main causes of death among infants between a month and a year. SIDS is said to occur only when no possible explanation can be found even after:

* Autopsy

* Examination of the place where the death occurred

* Review of medical history of infant and family

The baby typically does not seem to show any sign of suffering and death occurs rapidly. In addition, SIDS is commonly known as crib death because of a strong link with sleep. It is estimated that 2,500 babies in the United States die of unknown causes every year.

Probable Causes

While no single cause can be pinpointed, researchers believe that SIDS may be the result of a combination of several factors.

During pregnancy:

* Consumption of prohibited substances during pregnancy (tobacco, alcohol, drugs, etc.)

* Early motherhood

* Poor medical care during pregnancy

* Short interval between two pregnancies

After birth:

* Exposure to smoke after birth

* Sleeping on the stomach or sleeping on too soft a surface

The last point should be emphasized, as babies tend to pause in their breathing, or re-breathe exhaled air, reducing the amount of oxygen in their blood while increasing carbon dioxide. Babies need clear space around their heads to breathe freely.

Prevention

* Ensure that your child always sleeps on the back. Sleeping on the side is also not a good alternative. For babies, sleeping on the back reduces the chance of accidental death greatly.

* Your infant's sleep area should be firm, without any pillows, toys, or covering. A firm mattress is preferable to a soft one. Remove stuffed animals during nap or sleep time

* Keep a comfortable room temperature. Excess body heat is seen to increase the chances of SIDS.

* For unknown reasons, breast-feeding and pacifiers are known to decrease the risk of SIDS.

* Keep the air around the baby free of smoke.