I know that most of the readership of The Green Man are old farts (I mean that in the nicest possible way) and they are long past the age when they are likely to have a new baby around, unless, of course, your are a middle aged man who, in a crisis of realisation of your own mortality, has dumped the missus of 20 years and picked yourself up a trophy wife.

Never the less, you probably have adult children and this is an important message to pass on to them. The place for a baby is in a crib not your bed. Research continues to reinforce the dangers of sudden infant death syndrome related to infants sleeping with their parents. In October 2003 issue of Pediatrics, James Kemp, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics at Saint Louis University wrote that babies who sleep in an adult bed face a risk of suffocation that is as much as 40 times greater than babies who sleep in standard cribs.

All the new age crap about bonding with your baby means little if, in your sleep, you smother it and this is a real and ever present risk when adults share their beds with babies. New babies particularly lack the ability to extricate themselves from situations where they are smothering. It is so easy to do when you are asleep and so tragic. Here are the rules

Infants should be placed on their backs – not on their stomachs and sides – to sleep. Babies should sleep on a firm crib mattress, covered by a sheet, with no soft, cushy bedding such as pillows, comforters or quilts, in a room that isn't overly hot. Smoking during pregnancy increases a baby's risk of SIDS, and giving pacifiers at naptime and bedtime are associated with a reduced risk of SIDS.

Source