Newborn safe sleep advice needed!

[Fleetw00d]

Hi all!
I'm feeling pretty confused about how to put my 11 day old baby down to sleep. In the hospital the midwives had her in a tight swaddle and showed me how to do the same, there was a rolled up blanket underneath the sheet in a U shape that she was within, and then almost pinned down by a thin blanket tucked under the mattress. I carried that on when we got home but switched to a velcro swaddle which I'm not sure about, but just because I was worried about her breaking free and flapping the blanket over her face. She's been sleeping OK for the most part, kept up by wind but likes being swaddled.
However I'm now totally confused because my health visitor came today and told me that was all wrong amd was unsafe and that there should be no blanket under the sheet and her swaddle should be loose so she can break free, which to me seems to be a pointless, or just a blanket under her arms but she startles herself easily so think this would wake her.

Can anyone offer any advice as i really don't know who to listen to, the midwives or health visitor?!

Thank you all ❤

Safe sleep advice states that the baby should sleep in an empty cot on a flat surface. The swaddle is fine, but I don’t think the u-shaped towel meets the guidelines as it could pose a suffocation risk. I would wrap her in the swaddle (it should be tight, not loose enough to break out of) and then lay her on her back in the empty cot.

I can highly recommend getting a sleeping bag - they are so much easier than blankets! We started with a Tommy tippee 0-4m one that had the option to have arms in or out.

Same as above. Empty cot but tight swaddle is fine but not too tight at the hip/leg area.

Doesn’t need anything under sheet and another lover of sleeping bags here!

Look at the lullaby trust- it gives you all the information you need to know on safe sleep and what the health visitors work alongside

Flat on their back, in a sleeping bag, in an empty cot (feet at the bottom) 👍🏼

You can swaddle, but you shouldn't normally put another blanket over them if they are swaddled.

The U shaped blanket has been suggested to me before! I would probably do that over the top of the sheet, so it's not making it un-flat, but would probably again decide between that or swaddling, rather than doing both.

I find sometimes midwives err more on the side of what actually makes the babies sleep, whereas HVs err more on the side of following the guidelines to the letter.

It's not really as simple as something being safe or unsafe, it's more about increased/decreased risk.

Thank you all so much! I have a sleeping bag but she's only 8.7 so not sure if she's big enough yet! I'll look into the tommee tipee one so her arms can be in for a little while longer.
I've taken the blanket out from under the sheet, is the blanket over her and tucked in needed?

My DD was too small for her sleeping bag for the first couple of weeks. We ended up putting her in empty cot, feet to the bottom of the cot, and she was dressed in a vest and sleepsuit with a single layer of cellular blanket up to her armpits and tucked in at the sides. Definitely preferred sleeping bags once she was big enough as you can just pop them in without risking waking them up fiddling with blanket!

Congrats on your new baby!

How warm is the bedroom?

@PlantDoctor thank you!! 🥰 Currently about 17 degrees i think!

Hi op. My little boy was born 8lb 9 and went straight into a sleeping bag, the minimum weight on that was about 7lbs or just over. So worth a look x

If your baby has a strong Moro/startle reflex then the sleeping bags aren’t great as the baby will wake constantly flailing their arms around.
Personally I swaddle using a miracle blanket until 12 weeks which is a) when the Moro reflex starts to wear off and b) when the baby may begin to think about rolling.
Then I do one arm out for naps and transition to the sleeping bag over the course of a week.
Sleeping bags are then absolutely marvellous until 2-3 years of age.
Your baby should always be on their back on a flat surface with no blankets, pillows, or loose objects around.

go on lullaby trust. flat surface and empty cot. Sleeping bags are best way to go. Your HV was giving you the correct information to avoid SIDS.
In hospital especially neonatal units and paediatric wards quite a few things are done like the towel under the sheet, baby's on front ( completely normal treatment in respiratory conditions with newborns) etc and yes it gets babies to sleep. But they also use monitoring and have oxygen in tap with the trained nurse nearby. Never do what they do when you go home! They should tell you at the time not to do it when discharged and they also should not be doing this on a normal maternity ward. Were you in special care or transitional care?

Grobag do a grosnug for little babies which is a swaddle but a sleeping bag is that makes sense? I had one which I much preferred to trying to swaddle and worrying about the blankets.

Swaddle is fine. Some people don’t like them as the Moro reflex is natural and you just have to train them off them again later. But they’re fine if you want to use them. Shouldn’t be loose around the top/arms as it may ride up, but should be looser around the legs/hips so as to allow kicking. The Velcro one you are using should be fine as long as it’s the right size. Sleeping bags are good but have no effect on startle reflex.

Also, again, the sleeping bag should be the right size, so if you think your little one is too small for her sleeping bag, don’t use it yet. Again, it shouldn’t be too big, and therefore too loose, so that it rudes up over baby’s face.

Here’s the link for the gro snugs gro.co.uk/product/gro-snug/

As PP said - the HV is right.

Regarding the startling it's actually something that makes sleep safer - SIDS happens when a baby doesn't wake up when they should have, iyswim, so rousing every now and then has a protective effect. It's not as simple as less waking = better.

Tight swaddle is fine. It's pointless having it loose enough to break out of so no idea why your health visitor would say that! As a new born, I had mine mostly sleeping in the Moses basket as it's smaller than a cot and helps make them feel cocooned and cosy. If you're worried they're cold then you can swaddle using a velcro swaddle and then swaddle over the top in a blanket. I personally always just swaddled using blankets as the Velcro swaddle swamped my babies as newborns.

Thank you all this advice has been really helpful! I bought a gro bag/swaddle which arrived today and fits her perfectly with arms out, but that zip is not going up with arms in haha! So going to try her with that tonight. She broke out of her blanket swaddle after 2 hours last night so i removed it and she didn't actually startle herself fully awake so think her sleeping bag should be OK. She did however manage to inch herself right to the edge of her crib without the horseshoe blanket underneath her so not sure how to stop her doing that as didn't expect that movement from a 12 day old haha!
@catatecheese I was just on a normal recovery ward and baby was born without any issues or special care! Frustrating as they send you off not telling you what to carry on with at home and what not to, my friend had a baby a few months ago and felt just as confused 🥴