PFB or sensible precaution. Come in and decide for me...

[WhyIsItRaining]

So DS is 16 weeks old. Sleeps well at night, badly during the day and needs to be 'parented' to sleep at all times. Entirely by accident, we have discovered that if we put him down and then place his big(ish) toy rabbit on top of him, he fiddles around a bit and falls to sleep. Presumably, the rabbit makes him feel less alone - or else it occupies his hands and stops them flapping about and keeping him awake.

Problem is that SIDS guidelines say that toy animals in the cot are A Bad Thing before 6 months old. I guess this is because they can pull them onto their face and suffocate. DS does pull the rabbit onto his face but so far so good.

So, should we let him have the rabbit and be glad he can now self settle? Should we take it away once he falls asleep and replace when he wakes up in the night? Or something else? FWIW, we don't follow the guidelines to the letter; he naps on his own during the day and in the early evening. I guess I am hoping you will all say; ah yes dd/ds had a toy in the cot from 3 minutes old and never did them any harm...

just take it away once he's asleep and give it back to him if/when he wakes up

What OMDB said.

Hmmmm. I would be worried about doing this unless he was napping somewhere I could see him. Could he take his daytime naps in a moses basket in the same room as you? Then you could do the rabbit trick but keep an eye on him until he's asleep, and then remove it?

Thanks for the replies. He won't sleep at all during the day unless in a dark room (I really have tried) so being in the same room as me won't work.

I guess I really wanted to gauge whether I was being over the top. But by the sounds of it I'm not and should continue to take rabbit away once he drops off.

My ds2 does this but with a blanket, which I think is worse tbh.
But all I did was let him have it when I could see him and take it away when he fell asleep.