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Babies are safest when they sleep alone, on their backs.

Sleeping with your baby, ("co-sleeping ") can be dangerous. If an adult or child rolls over on a baby, the baby can be hurt or even suffocated.

It’s particularly dangerous to sleep with a baby on a couch.
Sleeping with your baby is especially unsafe if other children also share the same bed.

Babies should never be allowed to sleep with anyone who:

• Is overweight.
• Has been drinking alcohol.
• Has used marijuana or other drugs.
• Has taken medication that makes you sleepy.
• Is ill or extremely tired.

Put Your Baby ‘Back to Sleep’

Always put your baby to sleep alone in a crib, on his back.

Cribs don’t cause “crib death” – also known as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). SIDS can happen anywhere a baby is sleeping.

Take these steps to keep baby safe:

• Put him to sleep on his back – it greatly reduces the risk of SIDS.
• Make sure your baby’s crib has a firm mattress that fits snugly with no space between the mattress and the side of the crib, so the baby can’t be trapped.
• Keep your baby’s crib free of pillows, bumpers, fluffy quilts and stuffed toys. Keep blankets away from baby’s head.
• Never put your baby to sleep on an adult bed, sofa, waterbed, sheepskin, or other soft mattress–even for a nap.
• In an emergency, if you don’t have a crib, put baby to sleep in a firm, enclosed space, such as a playpen or stroller, with no loose bedding or pillows.
• Don’t let your baby get too warm. Keep the room temperature between 65 and 70 degrees.

You don’t have to sleep in the same bed to keep your baby close at night:

• Place your baby’s crib or bassinet in your room, near your bed.
• When your baby wakes up crying, walk around holding him close to you. Check to see if he’s hungry or needs a diaper change. Try a pacifier. Then put him back to sleep alone in his crib on his back.

For more information about how to keep your child safe, please call 311 in New York City and ask for a safe sleeping brochure or go to www.nyc.gov/acs; throughout New York State, call 800-345-KIDS, or go to www.ocfs.state.ny.us.