When there is a new baby coming in a few months there are many decisions that you have to take in order to provide your baby a happy, pleasant and safe environment. One such decision is whether to keep your newborn baby in the same room in which you sleep or not.

When you decide to keep your baby in the same room, you have to take precautions and have to follow certain practices. These precautions will also likely prevent SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). So, let us look at some of the best practices when keeping your newborn in the same bedroom with you:

1. Securely attach the crib next to the side of mother’s bed

Attaching the crib next to mother’s side helps both the mother and child, because the mother can frequently keep a check on her child without going out of the room, thus reducing any stress and worry. If the baby cries at night, the mother can attend to the baby quickly and calm her baby down. If the baby needs to be fed in the middle of the night or change the diaper, the mother is present all the time.

2. Safe sleep area

The baby’s bed should be safe and clean. You should keep in mind that while preparing the bed for your baby, the mattress should be a tight and firm one and not the fluffy one. All the soft toys should be kept away while your baby is sleeping to reduce the chances of your baby rolling over and getting suffocated. There should not be any space between the adjoining wall and the bed where the baby can roll and get trapped. You should not allow anyone to keep your baby on sofa, recliner, couch or any place where your baby can roll over into the crevice and get trapped.

3. Sleeping Position of your baby

Instruct each and every member of the household that the baby should be placed on his back to sleep. This is very important, because babies have to use a lot of strength in rolling over and if they are not kept on their back then they might not roll over properly. And their face facing downward on the bed surface will deprive them of getting enough oxygen, resulting in suffocation. Read more sleep tips for newborn baby

4. Do not smoke

You should not smoke in the room where the baby is, and should not allow anyone to do the same thing. If currently you are a smoker or your partner, then it is better to keep the baby in a separate room or quit the habit of smoking.

5. Do not overheat the room

Babies are very sensitive and they are not very good at handling changing environments as they have a weak immune system. You should try to maintain a pleasant temperature in the baby’s room, not too warm and not too cold. Do not use any type of loud music in the room, it can affect their ears and may lead to deafness.

These are some of the best practices that needed to be followed when keeping your newborn in the same bedroom with you.