Q&A Forum

29/1/20

Robyn

Good Morning, I am after advice for safe sleeping practices, we are a child care centre and a parent in our nursery has asked if we can do the following when her child goes down for sleep: Put the baby in a sleeping bag, once the child is in the sleep bag, swaddle him in a cotton wrap and then put him under 3 blankets made out of bamboo. Our sleep room is air conditioned and at 24 degrees however it is a lot of weight on top of him? We would love some guidance/advice on this please. Kind regards Robyn

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Posted a response on 4/2/20

Red Nose Education

How old is this baby?
It is important that a baby is not overheated during sleep time.
All babies need to be dressed according to the room temperature

Red Nose has the following general recommendations for sleeping infants…... see full articles for all information.

Red Nose does not recommend a specific room temperature for baby’s sleep.
This is because there is no evidence to show that maintaining a specific room temperature prevents sudden infant death.
As long as baby is put down to sleep on their back, and that baby is dressed appropriately for the room temperature – not overdressed or under dressed – with their head and face uncovered, you can feel reassured that you are protecting baby from overheating
https://rednose.org.au/article/how-to-dress-baby-for-sleep

Overheating can be caused by room heating, high body temperature and excessive clothing or bedding. To reduce the risk of this, Red Nose recommends that you, as baby’s parent or carer, use your own judgement, taking into account factors such as where you live (climate, whether it is summer or winter), whether you have heating in the house, and whether baby has a cold or minor illness (which may cause their temperature to rise).
A useful guide:

Dress baby for sleep using layers as you would dress or use layers yourself: to be comfortable, neither too hot nor too cold
- add/remove lightweight blankets to ensure baby’s chest feels comfortably warm to the touch
A good way to check baby’s temperature is to feel baby’s chest or back of neck, which should feel warm (don’t worry if baby’s hands and feet feel cool, this is normal).
Ensure baby’s head is uncovered - no hats, bonnets, beanies or hooded clothing.
https://rednose.org.au/article/how-much-bedding-does-baby-need

As far as wrapping over a sleep bag is concerned, this is not generally recommended, due to risk of overheating.
If baby is rolling, then wrapping over the sleeping bag may decrease baby’s ability to roll safely.
Red Nose also recommends that wrapping is modified at 3 months of age (ie “arms out”) & ceased once baby is rolling.

There is a greatly increased risk of death if a swaddled infant is placed in, or rolls onto their tummy.Modify the wrap to meet the baby’s developmental changes, e.g. arms free once ‘startle’ reflex begins to disappear which is usually around 3 months
As soon as a baby shows signs of beginning to roll, wrapping should be discontinued
https://rednose.org.au/article/wrapping-babies

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