How should a newborn sleep? The safe-sleep basics

The American Academy of Pediatrics' description of safe sleep describes safe sleep in the first year as: On their back, on a firm flat surface, in a cot with nothing in it but a fitted sheet, and in your room rather than your bed for the first six months. That is the American Academy of Pediatrics' description of safe sleep for the first year, and while it highlights the safest conditions for sleep, does not necessarily describe the lived experience of a lot of parents, who may have a different balance of co-sleeping. As with all things, if in doubt consult with your paediatrician.

These measures have been found by the AAP as being capable of lowering the risk of SIDS by as much as half.

On their back, for every sleep

The AAP describes back-sleeping for every sleep until twelve months. Every nap, every night, and the doze in someone else's arms that quietly turns into an hour. The AAP does not recommend side-sleeping.

A baby sleeping on their back is protected by their own airway and gag reflex, reflux included.

The surface, and what is on it

The AAP describes the sleep surface as being firm and flat, tilted no more than ten degrees, with a fitted sheet and nothing else on it. Inclined sleepers, nests and pods are described by the AAP as not safe for sleep, as the flat surface better supports back sleeping in those early months where a baby may not have developed the upper body strength and co-ordination to roll over.

In the AAP's description the cot itself stays bare: no pillows, no blankets or quilts, no soft toys, no cot bumpers. Warmth comes from a wearable sleep sack instead, options also include sleep sacks that restrict arm movement to simulate swaddling and prevent sleep interruption.

The Royal Children's Hospital puts a date on soft additions being added to the sleeping space. It describes soft toys and small blankets staying out of the cot for the first twelve months, and a small comforter being fine from around twelve months too. The RCH describes it as something that can help a child settle themselves.

The same room, not the same bed

For the first six months the AAP describes room-sharing without bed-sharing: the baby in their own cot, the cot in your room. It describes that arrangement as capable of lowering the risk of SIDS by as much as half. This one is the one that seems to split parents into two groups, self-soothing, self-sleeping, and those who prefer baby closeness and parent-led soothing approaches.

The dummy

A dummy at sleep time can lower the risk of SIDS, in the AAP's description. If you are breastfeeding, the AAP describes waiting until feeding is established before offering one.

Mostly, it is a list of things you take out

Read back in one go, the list is short and it is largely subtractive. A bare cot, a flat mattress, a fitted sheet, a sleep sack instead of a blanket, and the cot in the room where you are already sleeping. The cot the AAP describes is close to an empty one.

None of that is something an app has any part in, and it would be strange to pretend otherwise. Wriggler's sleep tracking is free, and what it records is the ordinary shape of a day: when a nap started, when it ended, whether it was a nap or a night. The cot is yours to set up, the guidance above is the AAP's and the RCH's, and anything specific to your own baby belongs with your child health nurse or GP.