• Make sure that your mattress is firm and fits tightly in the frame. 

• Sheets should fit your mattress snugly. 

• Loose pillows, soft blankets or heavy duvets/comforters should be kept away from your baby’s face. Consider using a sleep sack to keep baby warm instead of sharing a blanket with him.

• Always place your baby on his back or his side to sleep. 

• No one who shares sleep with your baby should drink alcoholic beverages, take drugs, be exceptionally obese, smoke, or be on medication that makes him or her less alert. 

• Consider keeping your young baby next to his mother only, because mothers seem to be especially aware of their babies in bed. 

• Keep an adult between any older child and your baby under 2 years of age. 

• Consider using a crib or commercially available “sidecar”next to the bed. 

• Make sure the sides of the bed are either tight against the wall or far enough away from the wall that your baby can’t become trapped. You can also use a bed rail on the side of the adult bed. 

• Keep the bed low to the ground, maybe even on the floor, to minimize any falls. 

Sources: Good Nights by Jay Gordon, MD and Maria Goodavage and Sweet Dreams by Paul Fleiss, MD