Dos:

• Take precautions to prevent baby from rolling out of bed, even though it is unlikely when baby is sleeping next to mother. Place baby between mother and a guardrail or push the mattress flush against the wall and position baby between mother and the wall. Be sure the guardrail is flush against the mattress so there is no crevice that baby could sink into.
• Place baby adjacent to mother, rather than between mother and father.
• Place baby on back or side.
• Use a large bed, preferably a king-size.

DON'TS:

• Do not sleep with your baby if you are under the influence of any drug (such as alcohol or tranquilizing medications) that diminishes your sensitivity to your baby's presence.
• Don't allow older siblings to sleep with a baby under nine months. Sleeping children do not have the same awareness of tiny babies as do parents, and a too small or too crowded bed space is an unsafe sleeping arrangement for a tiny baby.
• Don't fall asleep with a baby on a couch. It is particularly unsafe for a parent or older sibling to fall asleep on a couch with a tiny baby. Baby may get wedged between the back of the couch and the larger person's body, or baby's head may become buried in cushion crevices or soft cushions.
• Do not sleep with a baby on a free-floating, wavy waterbed (those without internal baffles), as a sleeping infant's face can become trapped in the depression formed by the weight of the head and the body. A baby may also sink down too far in the crevice between the mattress and frame or alongside the parent.
• Do not fall asleep with a baby on a beanbag or similar "sinky" surface in which baby could suffocate.
• Don't overheat or overbundle baby. Be particularly aware of overbundling if baby is sleeping with a parent. Warm bodies are an added heat source.
• Don't wear lingerie with string ties longer than seven inches (17.5 centimeters). Ditto for dangling jewelry. Baby may get caught in these entrapments.
• Avoid pungent hair sprays, deodorants, and perfumes. Not only may these camouflage the natural maternal smells that baby is used to and attracted to, but foreign odors may irritate and clog baby's tiny nasal passages.

If you are still worried about safe co-sleeping, yet want to sleep close to your baby at night, try what we call the "sidecar arrangement" using a bedside co-sleeper. This is a crib that attaches safely to your own bed. Available at all major infant product stores, a co-sleeper allows baby and parents to have their own space, but allows you both to be within close touching and nursing distance. For more information about co-sleepers, see www.armsreach.com.