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A new kit for NHS health professionals that they hope will help new parents better deal with sleepless nights

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A new kit for NHS health professionals that they hope will help new parents better deal with sleepless nights

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Do try to be appear calm when putting your baby in their cot, even if it's the last thing you feel. Don't get obsessed with them having daytime naps. Do have a consistent wake time. And above all, sleep experts say, try not to feel guilty or anxious if your little one is waking up time and again through the night.

That is half the battle, said Prof Helen Ball, director of Durham University's Infancy and Sleep Centre. A fractious baby really is a normal baby. "People do feel as if they must be doing something wrong. That they must be parenting improperly somehow.

"The ones who sleep through the night from an early age and never wake up, they are very rare. Although they are the only ones you ever hear about."

The centre will next week launch a new kit for NHS health professionals that they hope will help new parents better deal with sleepless nights.

Sleep - or the lack of it - is one of the main concerns new parents have, yet NHS health visitors and community nurses receive little or no training on the subject.

Research showed that practitioners did not feel confident discussing strategies with parents, said Ball. "The only recourse they had really was to their own experience."

Ball said popular beliefs that babies should sleep through the night still held sway but were based on studies conducted in the 1950s and 1960s when babies routinely slept in another room so parents could be unaware of their baby waking up.

"We know that it's normal for babies to wake and feed at night throughout at least the first year."

The new guidance, Sleep, Baby & You, is based on the Australian Possums Sleep Program, which teaches parents to manage expectations, to reduce negative thinking and encourages responsive infant care.

"Some of it is about framing what is normal or reframing expectations about what is normal and what we don't need to be anxious about," said Ball.

"Some of it is helping parents on how to cope. As in ... 'If this is normal and we've got to deal with this, how are we actually going to cope with this for several months?'"

It includes practical guidance and tips. For example, the importance of a baby being dialled down in order to fall asleep. If you are wound up then the baby will pick up on that, said Ball. "You might have to act calm even if you're not calm."

Babies really like comfort and contact so cuddle the baby until they calm down and don't put them in the cot as they're screaming.

Health professionals should encourage parents to avoid an obsession with daytime naps and suggest that naps happen on the go.

Ball said having a consistent wake time was more important than having one for bed time.

"There's lots of information about how sleep works that the general public often hasn't encountered before," she said.

The guidance is important, Ball said, because lack of sleep "has been linked to increased symptoms of depression and anxiety among new mothers and fathers".

It differs from the various forms of sleep training that exist, easily found online or available privately, which give tips on how to get baby to settle down during the night.

Some methods favour the baby being in a separate room and parents not responding when the baby cries. Others talk about popping in to see them at increasingly longer intervals. Others say the baby should be in the same room but you're not meant to respond when they wake.

"Many parents don't like the idea of not being responsive when their child is requesting their help or attention," said Ball. "They don't want sleep training but they want to know what else can they do."

The guide will be launched at the centre's annual conference on Monday, which will celebrate 22 years of world-leading research into infant sleep.

Ball said she and the centre had been working on the training tool, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, for nearly four years. "I wanted to find a support programme that NHS staff could use to help parents who are struggling with infant sleep."

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Crib sheet: experts issue advice for new parents to cope with sleepless nights

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Do try to be appear calm when putting your baby in their cot, even if it's the last thing you feel. Don't get obsessed with them having daytime naps. Do have a consistent wake time. And above all, sleep experts say, try not to feel guilty or anxious if your little one is waking up time and again through the night.

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Popular beliefs about when babies should be 'sleeping through the night' are based on studies conducted in the 1950s and 1960s on groups of formula-fed babies. However, it is normal for babies - especially breastfed babies - to wake and feed throughout the night during, at least, the first year. Encouraging babies to 'sleep through' before they are ready to do so makes it difficult to keep breastfeeding and may encourage babies to develop mature sleep patterns out of sequence with their other circadian patterns, such as those controlling the regulation of temperature, hormone production, and the genes that control our biological rhythms.

Babies operate according to their own internal biological rhythms, and they are unaware of what their parents are reading or being told. Babies do not have a body clock when they are born. It often takes several months for a baby's day-night pattern of wake and sleep to become established, and for night-time sleep consolidation to happen. During this time many parents just need reassurance that their baby is normal, and that their baby's sleep patterns are developing as expected.

New-born babies may sleep for 18 or so hours a day, but often for only for 2-3 hours at a time. During the first-year overall sleep duration falls to around 15 hours a day, and the majority of sleep becomes concentrated during night-time as the circadian rhythms* develop.
Sleep variation
In a comprehensive systematic review (Galland et al. 2012) combined data from 34 studies relating to normal infant sleep duration. The chart below shows part of this data for babies aged up to one year. Data from each study & age range are represented by a dot which shows the average total sleep experienced. [The dotted line shows the amount of variation around that average.] It is clear that younger babies sleep longer overall, but there is also a lot of variation among individual babies, and within studies for this group.

Sleep is a developmental process, and our sleep needs change throughout our lifetimes. Babies' sleep patterns mature over the first several years of life, and the sleep architecture of newborns is very different to that of adults. Newborns sleep for 18-20 or so hours a day, but only for 2-3 hours at a time. During the first-year overall sleep duration falls to around 15 hours, and the majority of sleep becomes consolidated during night-time as circadian rhythms develop (Parmelee et al 1964).

*Circadian rhythms - biological processes which are roughly tied to the 24-hour day, and periods of daylight and dark. Processes regulated by our circadian rhythms include heart rate, temperature and our 'body clock', along with the production of hormones which make us feel sleepy or alert.*

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Evolutionary reasons for how babies sleep

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Evolutionary reasons for how babies sleep

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Vulnerable human babies and their large brains

Humans fit into the mammalian precocial pattern in most ways-we are usually born singly, have good sensory development (sight, hearing, etc.) at birth and are fed with milk that is similar in composition to other precocial mammals - high calorie, low fat, quickly and easily digested. However, we also have a smaller proportion of our adult brain development completed by the time of birth than do other primates, which means human babies have some relatively undeveloped characteristics. While the milk of other precocial species is high in sugar to provide infants with the energy they need to follow or cling to their mothers, the high sugar content of human milk is used to fuel rapid brain growth over the first few months of life. We are unable to cling or walk for months following birth and are less able than other primates to regulate some of our biological systems - including temperature control, heart rate and breathing. This means that human infants are totally dependent on their caregiver to keep them close, to provide warmth and protection, to ensure frequent access to maternal milk, and to help regulate aspects of their physiology. (Trevathan and Rosenberg's book Costly and Cute: helpless infants and human evolution (2016) discusses the research into how we understand human infancy if you wish to know more!)

What this means for 'normal' infant sleep

As unusually helpless precocial primates, human babies have a very particular set of characteristics, some of which have evolved over many millions of years and are deeply engrained in our biology and behaviour:

We have a long period of development after birth, which takes place at a very fast rate, and requires a lot of energy

We have the need to feed often and on-demand on high-calorie, low-fat milk which is digested quickly

We are born with some well-developed senses - especially sight, hearing and touch

We are unable to cling to a care-giver and so rely on being carried to stay close

We have some underdeveloped physiological systems - body temperature, breathing and heart rate control

Throughout our evolutionary history, human babies would not have survived without the constant presence of a caregiver - in most cases the mother. Together with the need to feed frequently, this means human babies are designed to be close to their mother, both day and night. Human infants are therefore biologically evolved to sleep near to (and probably in contact with) their mother's body during the first months or years of life. In the past, we could not have survived without doing so. Today we live and sleep in very different environments than those we evolved in, and so understanding infant sleep involves drawing together information about what is normal for infant sleep based on our evolved biology, and the ways in which our history and culture have shaped what we consider to be normal today.

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Baby sleep expertise leads to new bedsharing advice

Research by our baby sleep experts has led to new international guidance on bedsharing.

In the new protocol, breastfeeding mothers and babies are not advised against bedsharing, as long as no dangerous circumstances exist. This marks a departure from advice most commonly given which categorically advises against bedsharing.

The new clinical guidance has been heavily informed by research from our Durham Infancy & Sleep Centre.
Safe bedsharing
The protocol has been published by the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, an international body of physicians, and is aimed at clinicians world-wide.

It emphasises that all parents should be educated on safe bedsharing, with the understanding that bedsharing is very common.

Dangerous circumstances include sleeping with an adult on a sofa or armchair; sleeping next to an adult impaired by alcohol, medications, or illicit drugs; tobacco exposure; and preterm birth.
Keeping babies safe
Our Durham Infancy & Sleep Centre has been at the forefront of infant sleep research for over 20 years. It has made a significant contribution to keeping babies safe at night, including helping to reduce the rates of Suddent Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Our researchers conduct studies in people's homes, in hospitals and in our own sleep lab on campus where parents and babies can be observed during the night with cameras and via breathing, heart rate and temperature monitors.

Evidence from our research shows that breastfed babies, who share the bed with their mothers, sleep on their backs, and are naturally positioned away from pillows and things that may obstruct their airways. Breastfeeding mothers instinctively form a protective position around their baby.
Find out more

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Baby sleep expertise leads to new bedsharing advice - Durham University

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Research by our baby sleep experts has led to new international guidance on bedsharing. In the new protocol, breastfeeding mothers and babies are not advised against bedsharing, as long as no dangerous circumstances exist. This marks a departure from advice most commonly given which categorically advises against bedsharing.

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Article by Prof Amy Brown

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A full night's sleep will be near the top of many parents' wish lists. Sleep deprivation is no fun and many parents find themselves turning to baby care books that promise to train their child to sleep through the night.

These books promote a range of ideas. At the more extreme end, extinction - often known as " cry it out" - involves putting the baby to bed and ignoring their cries (sometimes checking periodically to make sure they are not unwell or in danger). A modified version of this, often known as "controlled crying", suggests parents should ignore cries for a set amount of time, before responding briefly to reassure their baby, gradually increasing the amount of time between checks. The idea is that babies will eventually realise no one is going to come - and sleep instead.

But there are two main issues with both variations of this sleep training. Babies can become distressed during longer periods of crying, with raised levels of stress hormones. In addition, not responding to a baby's cries goes against everything we know about building positive attachment relationships. Babies who learn that someone will respond to their needs, in a loving and appropriate way, typically go on to have better social, emotional and educational outcomes.

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The research explained

Research into these methods has shown mixed results, mainly because many parents find leaving their baby to cry too distressing. This is unsurprising. Parents are hardwired to want to respond to their baby's cries. Other research suggests that such techniques may only work temporarily or only work for some babies.

In one study that examined whether mothers implemented sleep training advice in books, the advice only worked for around 20% of babies. Most struggled to follow the guidance or it had no impact, leaving them feeling frustrated and even like a failure.

One reason why sleep training might not work is because waking at night is developmentally normal for most babies throughout their first year. Even adults sometimes have difficulties sleeping through the night and insomnia is a common complaint. But, unlike babies, adults are able to meet their own needs. If we do wake, we can get ourselves a drink, pull the covers back or rationalise our thoughts.

In addition, some parents may be getting confusing advice, as research headlines don't always give the full picture. One trial randomised mothers who felt their baby had a sleep problem to either behavioural sleep training techniques or "usual care". Those in the sleep training group reported better mental health and fewer sleep problems at one year. But those mothers were also taught about normal infant sleep and given an opportunity to chat to a nurse about their worries and ideas for self-care.

At the end of the trial, mothers rated "having someone to talk to" as the most useful thing. Is this evidence that rather than trying to teach babies to sleep, there should be more support for new families instead?

So what does work?

If you are reading this as a sleep-deprived parent, do not despair. There are gentler ways to help your baby sleep better that do not involve listening to your baby cry. And the good news is that responsive sleep support can be just as effective and less stressful for everyone.

First, understanding the sleep needs and circadian rhythms of the baby can go a long way towards optimising sleep. There are two sleep regulating mechanisms in the human body. The first is the Circadian rhythm, or body clock. This is regulated by exposure to light, noise, activity and social cues at the right time of day. Getting outside in the daytime and having a predictable darkening of the room one to two hours before bedtime can really help. Some parents find a predictable routine that signals bedtime helps (having a bath, getting changed and maybe a soothing story or song).

The second regulating mechanism is something known as " homeostatic sleep pressure ". The drive to sleep (when your eyes start drooping) builds during wakeful hours. The younger we are, the less time we can manage awake. So, understanding how to support babies to take regular naps to prevent them from becoming overtired makes a big difference.

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This is easier to achieve when you learn to recognise your baby's sleep, feeding and other cues. Understanding these cues helps parents to spot when their baby is ready for sleep, before they become overly tired and frustrated. It also helps deepen the bond between parent and child. Being able to accurately interpret a baby's need for more action, quiet time, food, cuddles or sleep will mean that parents are more in tune with them. No book can tell a parent what their baby needs right now. This can only be learned through observation and trial and error.

Read more: Babies don't need sleep coaches - but sometimes their parents do

Finally, decreasing parental stress can make a huge difference to sleep. The more we worry about sleep, the worse it gets. Little things like accepting what's normal, taking time for self-care and accepting offers of help, not only make it easier to feel more rested and able to cope, but can also rub off on the baby. Babies are masters at responding to emotional states, so parents will probably find that their baby is easier to settle and sleeps better when they take care of their own emotional well-being.

And if you are one such sleep-deprived parent, please remember: your baby will not be like this forever - they will sleep one day.

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Sleep-training and babies: why 'crying it out' is best avoided

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A full night's sleep will be near the top of many parents' wish lists. Sleep deprivation is no fun and many parents find themselves turning to baby care books that promise to train their child to sleep through the night. These books promote a range of ideas.

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Caring for your baby at night:

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Updated in 2022 with important new messaging on sleep safety, this leaflet offers helpful, practical advice to parents on looking after their sleeping baby both during the day and at night.

Caring for Your Baby at Night and When Sleeping covers a range of topics, including getting some rest, night feeding, safe sleeping environments and helping baby to settle. It is endorsed by the Lullaby Trust, the Baby Sleep Info Source (BASIS), the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and the Institute of Health Visiting (iHV).

Printed copies are available for £15 per pack (1-9 packs) or £11 per pack (10 or more packs). There are 50 leaflets per pack and this price includes P&P within UK. Order using the Baby Friendly Resources order form, which you can download from our Resources page.
Please note: Orders for UK delivery only, and include postage and packaging costs. Orders may take up to 7 working days to process. The Baby Friendly Initiative reserve the right to re-print items at any time. If you are looking to order audit tools or e-learning please use our digital resources order form.

Caring for your Baby at Night and when Sleeping

A Guide for Parents

Download now

Caring For Your Baby at Night and When Sleeping: A guide for health professionals

Our accompanying guide supports health professionals who will be using Caring for Your Baby at Night and When Sleeping with new parents. It looks at the evidence underpinning the recommendations in the leaflet and offers guidance on discussing these issues.
An updated version of the health professional's guide will be made available soon.

Further resources

The Baby Sleep Information Source (Basis) is an informational source for parents who wish to make informed choices about their infant's sleep and night time care, and is the result of a collaboration between the Durham University Parent-Infant Sleep Lab, La Leche League, NCT, and the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative.

We have also collaborated with The Lullaby Trust, Public Health England, and Basis to create a range of resources for parents and health professionals, with accessible guidance on safer sleep practices. The following are available to download and buy on The Lullaby Trust website.

Safer Sleep for Babies: A Guide for Parents

Safer Sleep for Babies: Saving Babies' Lives - A Guide for Professionals

Safer Sleep for Babies: Quick Reference Card

Public Health Wales have produced a version of the Caring for your baby at night leaflet in Welsh, which is free to download.

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Caring for your baby at night leaflet - Baby Friendly Initiative

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This leaflet, endorsed by BASIS, the RCM and The Lullaby Trust, offers practical advice for parents on caring for their sleeping baby.

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Mary Francell, Georgia, USA

The LLL of Georgia, USA, Breastfeeding and Parenting Conference with a concurrent Healthcare Provider Seminar and Leader Enrichment Workshop took place November 6-8, 2015 at the beautiful Jekyll Island Club on the Georgia coast. While parents enjoyed the lovely architecture, children at the conference were much more interested in playing among the huge, Spanish moss-draped live oaks throughout the property or visiting the beach to splash in the waves.

Featured speaker James McKenna, PhD

We were fortunate to welcome Dr. James McKenna, leading infant sleep expert and professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Notre Dame, where he directs the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory. He is the author of over 140 scientific articles, as well as the book, Sleeping with Your Baby: A Parent's Guide to Co-sleeping. Dr. McKenna presented three sessions: "Origins of Humankind's Most Successful Sleeping and Feeding Arrangement," "Breastsleeping, A New Concept," and "Helping and Supporting Stakeholders...Mother, Fathers and Babies: What to Say?"
Dr. McKenna emphasizes that until recent history (in Western industrialized societies), "....no human (primate) ancestral or modern infant ever slept separated from its caregiver..." Human infants are contact seekers for a number of reasons based in evolutionary science. When our ancestors moved from walking on all fours to walking on two legs (bipedalism), pelvic openings became smaller to accommodate this innovation. Humans evolved to have the largest brains of any primate, so with this change, infants needed to be born "earlier"-partly due to the need to fit through the birth canal and partly due to the placenta's inability to sustain such huge brain growth. The result is that human neonates are by far the most helpless at birth of any animal and require constant nourishment and care for the first few months of life.

More evidence for this comes from mother's milk itself. Nesting or cache animal species (those animals that hide their young in camouflaged locations) have milk that is high in fat and protein and low in carbohydrates, enabling the mother to leave her young for extended periods. The milk of contact/carry/co-sleeping species is opposite in composition, necessitating very frequent feeds. In addition, constant contact requires infants to be attractive to their caregivers-babies are cute for a reason! Big eyes, chubby cheeks, soft skin and cooing all attract parents emotionally and convince them to invest time and energy in child rearing.

Breastsleeping

In the current issue of Acta Paediatrica, ¹ Dr. McKenna and Dr. Lee Gettler propose the concept of breastsleeping, because;

neither normal human healthy infant sleep, nor normal human optimal breastfeeding is understood independent of the other.

Breastsleeping refers to a sober, breastfeeding mother sleeping with her baby on the same surface in the absence of all hazardous factors. In his research, Dr. McKenna has found that breastsleeping dyads synchronize their breathing and sleep cycles so that baby latches on and mother adjusts coverings, kisses baby's head, etc. without either waking up fully. Breastsleeping babies also maintain higher body temperatures and breastfeed double or triple the number of times during the night compared with solitary sleeping infants. Both increased nighttime arousals and breastfeeding protect against Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Public health campaigns promote solitary sleep

In the United States, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that babies sleep in the same room as their parents, but not bedshare. Public health campaigns routinely promote solitary crib (cot) sleeping as the only safe form of infant sleep, often including the tagline

Alone. Back. Crib - No Exceptions.

However, Dr. McKenna points out that other groups, such as the World Health Organization and the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, support bedsharing when it is done safely. The AAP recommendation is based on epidemiological data that is not controlled for such risk factors as formula feeding, soft surfaces, and parental alcohol and drug use.

Rates of bedsharing are increasing

In addition, case controls (observational studies where cases with a certain outcome are compared with cases that do not have the outcome) are difficult to verify. UK sleep researcher Dr. Helen Ball ² has found that parents often under-report bedsharing, stating instead where they think a baby is supposed to sleep (crib/cot) or reporting where the baby began the night, even if the baby was later brought into the parents' bed. According to Dr. McKenna, other studies with appropriate controls have found that bedsharing is dangerous for infants only in the presence of hazardous factors and is actually protective against SIDS for babies over three months old. Because rates of bedsharing are increasing in the U.S. despite public health warnings, Dr. McKenna believes that efforts must be refocused on telling parents how to do so safely. Messages that simply emphasize "no bedsharing" may increase the risk when it results in exhausted parents falling asleep with their babies on such unsafe surfaces as sofas and chairs.

Breastsleeping is biologically normal

Much of the emphasis on solitary infant sleep in the U.S. is based on Western cultural values, including early independence, the sanctity of the marital bed, and moral judgments of what makes a "good" baby. When an infant sleeping alone is seen as "normal," a baby protesting sleep isolation is considered a problem to be solved. On the other hand, viewing breastsleeping as biologically normal considers a baby who wakes at night to breastfeed as well adapted. Dr. McKenna stresses that much of Western sleep research is flawed because it uses a cultural construct as its base and focuses on infant sleep consolidation (i.e., "sleeping through the night") at the expense of breastfeeding-both of which (fewer arousals and artificial baby milk feeding) are risk factors for SIDS. The millions of years of evolution that have shaped parent/infant biology and instincts also contradict this Western cultural idea.

According to Dr. McKenna, U.S.-based "Safe to Sleep" campaigns are being imported to other parts of the world. These public health messages, some of which compare same surface co-sleeping to putting a baby to bed with a metal cleaver or rolling pin (truly!), are both scientifically incorrect and create unnecessary fear among breastfeeding families. He believes that these hierarchical dictates by medical "authorities" must be counteracted by a "bottom-up" groundswell of parents asserting their rights to make informed decisions about where babies sleep.

Dr. McKenna encourages parents to talk openly about their nighttime sleeping arrangements, particularly with their health care providers. Breastsleeping is biologically normal and should be treated as such. "After all," emphasizes Dr. McKenna, "the mother's body remains the only environment to which the human neonate-infant is adapted."

Breastsleeping Facebook group

Anyone interested in Dr. McKenna's concept of breastsleeping is welcome to join a new Facebook group called Biologically Normal Infant Sleep. Please send an email to mary.frsh@gmail.com with a sentence about why you want to join the group. For more information, consult Sweet Sleep: Nighttime and Naptime Strategies for the Breastfeeding Family by La Leche League International, Dr. Helen Ball's Infant Sleep Information Source ( https://www.isisonline.org.uk/); and the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame ( cosleeping.nd.edu).

¹ McKenna J J and Gettler LT. There is no such thing as infant sleep, there is no such thing as breastfeeding, there is only breastsleeping. Acta Paediatrica 10 October 2015; (105)1:17-21.
² Ball HL, Hooker E, Kelly PJ. Where will baby sleep? Attitudes and practices of new and experienced parents regarding co-sleeping with their newborn infants. American Anthropologist 1999; 101(1):143-151.

Blair PS, Sidebotham P, Pease A, Fleming PJ. Bed-sharing in the absence of hazardous circumstances: is there a risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome? An analysis from two case-control studies conducted in the UK. PLoS ONE 2014; 9: e107799.

Mary Francell and her husband Howard are the parents of three breastfed children, aged 24, 20 and 17. She has been an LLL for over 20 years and is currently Area Professional Liaison for LLL of Georgia, USA and Contributing Editor for Leader Today. An International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, Mary works part-time at a pediatric office and also sees clients on contract with a private lactation practice in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

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James McKenna and Breastsleeping | Leader Today

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Mary Francell, Georgia, USA The LLL of Georgia, USA, Breastfeeding and Parenting Conference with a concurrent Healthcare Provider Seminar and Leader Enrichment Workshop took place November 6-8, 2015 at the beautiful Jekyll Island Club on the Georgia coast.

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Here's a film produced by Swansea University on infant sleep and breastfeeding:

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School of Health & Social Care, Swansea University

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Here’s the new UNICEF leaflet for health professionals on bed-sharing:  

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Here’s the new UNICEF leaflet for health professionals on bed-sharing:  

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This paragraph is particularly important: While some young babies settle easily in a cot or Moses basket between feeds, others do not. Some parents who choose not to co-sleep may decide to encourage their baby to learn to sleep independently using the controlled crying method, which is not recommended. This approach can be distressing for the parents and their baby, be detrimental to the baby’s growth and development and can undermine breastfeeding.

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This excellent website was set up by Prof Helen Ball, the UK’s leading researcher into infant sleep: BASIS Baby Sleep Information

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This excellent website was set up by Prof Helen Ball, the UK’s leading researcher into infant sleep: BASIS Baby Sleep Information

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Research-based information on baby sleep for parents and practitioners, covering normal infant sleep, sleep safety, where and how babies sleep, SIDS and SUDI, parental sleep and free resources.

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Why it's not desirable for babies to sleep through the night

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Why it's not desirable for babies to sleep through the night

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http://www.swansea.ac.uk/media-centre/news-archive/2015/sleeplessnightsnewresearchfindsbabiesshouldwakeatnight.php

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Dr James McKenna, the US's leading reseacher into infant sleep:

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Dr James McKenna, the US's leading reseacher into infant sleep:

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http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/james-mckenna-co-sleeping-expert_b_7119782.html

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Is Sleeping With Your Baby As Dangerous As Doctors Say?

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Many doctors in the U.S. say the practice puts an infant at risk of sleep-related death. A close look at the research reveals a different picture.

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Prof Helen Ball's article on newborn sleep for the BMJ

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Prof Helen Ball's article on newborn sleep for the BMJ

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http://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/sleep.lab/news/ball2013bmj.f2344.full.pdf

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One way of coping with night feeds are bedside cots,  which enable mothers to keep babies close at night and feed them easily. Here are some bedside cots parents have recommended to me: 

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One way of coping with night feeds are bedside cots,  which enable mothers to keep babies close at night and feed them easily. Here are some bedside cots parents have recommended to me: 

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The Arms Reach: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Arsmreach-Universal-Sleeper-Sleep-Natural/dp/B00003TKVZ

The Snuzpod Bedside Crib: http://www.thelittlegreensheep.co.uk/the-little-green-sheep/snuzpod-3-in-1-bedside-crib-natural.aspx

And the Chicco Next2me Side Sleeping Crib: http://www.chicco.co.uk/8058664024605.next2me-side-sleeping-crib.html