Is Newborn Side Sleeping Safe?

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the sudden death of an infant under the age of one. It usually happens when the baby is asleep. The amazing and horrible thing is that the babies look healthy. And bout 90% of cases occur in infants under 6 months of age. According to the study, babies sleeping on their sides are at a higher risk of getting this terrible disease.

So what should you do if your baby rolls to side during sleep? Kaiya Baby offer you the following measures.

Monitor your baby's sleeping position: Before bed, after falling asleep, and when you wake up at night, you should regularly check your baby's sleeping position. If you find that your baby has rolled to the side, you can gently roll their back back to the supine position.

Use a sleeping sack: A sleeping sack can be used to limit your baby's rolling over. These sleeping sacks can wrap around your baby's body, making it difficult for them to flip to one side.

Adjust baby room temperature: Ensure that the baby's sleeping environment maintains an appropriate temperature, and do not let the baby turn over frequently due to overheating.

Strengthen neck and back muscles: When your baby has abdominal time during the day, they need to use the muscles in their neck and back to support themselves. This exercise helps build the strength and endurance of these muscles, making your baby more able to maintain head and body stability at night. Strengthening the neck and back muscles can also improve your baby's body control and reduce the likelihood of sudden rolling over during the night.

Consult a pediatrician: If the baby is rolling all the way to the side, you can consult a pediatrician for professional advice. Your doctor may recommend special sleeping positions or bedding for your baby to ensure their safety and comfort.

Hazards of Continuous Side Sleeping

Although the risk of sleeping on your side is not very great, if a baby sleeps on its side all the time, it can have many negative effects on baby’s physical development and health.

1. Cranial deformation: Baby has been sleeping on the side may cause the head to be tilted to one side, which will cause the skull to be deformed in the long run, and there will be problems such as a partial flat head or oblique head.
2. Breathing problems: Sleeping on side increases your baby's risk of choking. If a baby's face is blocked by a pillow or other object while sleeping on side, it may cause limited breathing and increase the risk of suffocation.
3. Unbalanced development: When babies sleep on their side, they often turn to one side, which may lead to unbalanced development of muscles and bones in the body in the long run, affecting the normal growth of babies.
4. Numbness of hands and feet: If sleep in the same position for a long time, it may exert pressure on one side of the limb, affecting local blood circulation, and prone to hand and foot numbness.
5. Bone bending: Baby's bones are not fully developed and mature, so if baby sleeps on one side for a long time, it may cause the baby's bones to bend. 

In order to avoid the above negative effects, baby should take turns to take different sleeping positions during sleep, such as supine sleep and prone sleep, to maintain the balanced development of body.

Pros and Cons of Various Sleeping Positions

Supine Position (On the Back)

Advantages: 

1. Parents can directly observe the baby's sleep and facial expressions in order to find problems in time.
2. The baby's limbs can move freely, and their internal organs are under less pressure.
3. Statistics show that sleeping on back is an effective way to reduce the risk of SIDS. SIDS is the sudden death of a baby during sleep, the cause of which is unknown but related to sleeping position. Sleeping on back helps ensure that your baby's airways remain open, reducing the risk of choking and suffocation.
4. Sleeping on back can reduce the likelihood of pressure on the baby's head and neck, helping to prevent skull deformation or abnormal head shape development.

Disadvantages:

1.The baby in the month is not easy to get a sense of security and sleep soundly.
2.Just after feeding the baby, baby can not immediately sleep on the back. They are easy to overflow milk. You should first let the baby lie on the right side for a while.
3. Sleeping on back for a long time may cause your baby to turn into a flat head.         Do not let your baby sleep and play on your back all day long.
Reminder: Do not use pillows when sleeping on back, slightly cushion your babies’ neck and shoulders. If the baby has a laryngeal malacia problem, sleeping on the back will cause breathing difficulties due to partial collapse of the throat, snoring and breathing. Therefore, it is recommended that soft throat babies sleep on their side to improve the problem of airway obstruction.
However, once the baby is able to roll over on its own, that is, to move from a supine to another sleeping position, parents no longer have to force it to remain in the supine position. At this stage, babies have the ability to choose comfortable sleeping positions on their own, but still need to ensure that the bed is safe and the bedding is clean to reduce the risk of choking. Therefore, sleeping on back at all times is only the safest option for the early stages.

Side Sleeping Position

Sleeping on the side for babies of 3 months after birth is the best sleeping position. It not only can take into account baby’s head shape, but also easier to observe the baby's facial expression. If babies have just drunk milk, you can let them sleep on the right side, which is conducive to preventing milk discharge and helping their stomach empty. Take a side sleeping position, parents still need to often help the baby change the left and right sides, in order to let the baby sleep out of a beautiful shape head.

Advantages:

1. It can relax the muscles of the whole body and improve the sleep quality of the baby.
2. Lying on the right side is conducive to the smooth entry of stomach food into the intestine, even if the milk is spilled, the vomit will flow out of the mouth
3. The right side position can avoid pressure on the baby's heart and reduce snoring during sleep.

Disadvantages:

1. Total side sleeping is prone to asymmetrical development on both sides of baby’s face and causing crooked flat head
2. The baby is not easy to maintain the position of lying on the side
3. Sleeping on left side can cause vomiting or breast overflow

Prone Position (On the Stomach)

Sleeping on the stomach can promote the development of the baby's muscle tension, promote the development of the heart and lung, and actively help exercise the baby's lung function. Premature babies sleep better on their stomachs.

Advantages: 

1. Sleeping on stomach helps the growth and development of your baby's chest and lungs.
2. If the baby vomits milk, it will also flow out of the mouth, and there will be no choking danger
3. Prone sleeping position is more likely to letbaby feel safe.
4. When colic occurs, sleeping on the stomach can cause abdominal pressure, but can relieve abdominal discomfort.

Disadvantages:

1. It is not easy for parents to observe the baby's skin color and facial expression.
2. The baby is easy to saliva outflow. When the milk is spilled, it is easy to choke baby’s mouth and nose
3. Baby’s mouth and nose are easily blocked by objects, resulting in breathing difficulties

Reminder: It is not suitable for sleeping on the stomach when the baby is not yet a month old and there is no caregivers watching over them.

Conclusion

In fact, whether it is sleeping on the back, on the stomach or sleeping on the side, it is fine as long as it is suitable for the baby to sleep and have a positive effect on baby’s physical development. Accidents can happen at any time during baby’s sleep, so parents need to pay more attention. For baby under the age of 1, it is recommended that parents regularly help their babies change their sleeping position, so that babies can sleep safely and soundly.