Is it worth purchasing a Sleepyhead for my 3 month old?

[S082018]

As the title says really.

My little one who is 3 months old this week is really unsettled when he's put down to sleep. So much so that I end up giving in and holding him for pretty much all of his daytime naps. It wasn't so much an issue when he was sleeping well at night, but now night time is beginning to also be a problem and he constantly wants to be held or sleep on my chest.

I've tried all sorts to help. Blackout blind, white noise, a hot water bottle in his crib to make it warm, placing a T-shirt of mine down for him to sleep on, a dummy. Nothing seems to work.

I have heard good things about the Sleepyhead, I'm just wondering if it's actually as good as they say it is and whether or not it will actually make a difference to a baby at this age as opposed to having them sleep in it as a newborn. It's a fair amount of money so I want to make sure it's a worthwhile purchase if I do go ahead and buy one.

Honest opinions please...

I’m not sure how they’re rated by the lullaby trust atm so look at that first
If you’re going to get one now get the grand not deluxe as it’s for bigger babies

The sleepyhead is brilliant for us, although I stopped using it for my first born at night around or before three months as he was rolling from back to front then. I still used it for daytime naps for a bit longer. It’s really great for the transfer and then you can pick them up in it (carefully, obviously) if you need to move them once asleep.

I’m now using it again for my second, so I would say if you are planning another baby it would still be worth it to get one now.

No. They are not safe

I bought one when my baby was nine weeks (she’s just coming up to three months now) and suddenly I could put her down to sleep. It was like a miracle! I don’t know how long it’ll last but it says up to eight months on it.

I was reluctant to get one because of SIDs advice. The thing that made me buy it was that I woke up with my baby have rolled down into the crook of my arm because I’d fallen asleep on my chest in bed with her because she was so hard to put down. I think that the risk of her sleeping in the sleepyhead is less than the risk of me falling asleep with her like that.

No. They're not safe. They're classed as a pillow or cushion and the lullaby trust specifically sat to avoid sleep positioners like this.

It's a challenge I know but it's a phase and I promise that it too shall pass.

I bought one in desperation when DS was a couple of weeks old and would wake up every single time we tried to put him down. It worked. So it was definitely worth it for us.

Since then, the Lullaby Trust have published guidelines about sleep positioners to say that they should be for supervised sleeping only. So this leaves me with a dilemma about whether to use it for DC2. I guess everyone needs to weight up the benefits v the risks and make a choice which feels right for them. But I agree with Dillybear that using a sleepyhead is much safer than falling asleep with a baby in your arms.

They are absolutely safe for daytime naps. They are fantastic sleep machines!

That should say I’d fallen asleep with her on my chest!

Yes I love mine. I use a miracle wrap and have a my humny bear and my 3 month old sleeps 12 hours

Did nothing for us, baby hated it. Cat loved it though, so it's makes a very good but expensive cat bed?

Not been a miracle for us sadly. My 7 week old seems to actively dislike it.. same with a swaddle. She just does not like being restricted. It’s a pain though as she flaps around like a loonstic at night & will only sleep in a carrier in the day 🤦🏼‍♀️

I’ve always felt a bit anxious about using one to be honest as they aren’t deemed safe but when I have tried, I can’t really see the danger while baby is still immobile.. strikes me as safer than falling asleep with baby on you which I’ve done a few times!

The most recent guidelines and research shows them not to be safe and cases of deaths are trickling through according to the speakers ( experts in this area , including police and paediatrics ) at the launch of the new safer sleep guidelines launched in February/ march to professionals. They count as a pillow. Basically a baby can wriggle and turn the head into the padded area and suffocate. They now say for supervised naps only but in reality it's at night when you struggle and if baby is used to it in the day you will be tempted at night also . If you are not sitting with your eye constantly on that baby do not use it.
Nobody should be recommending them and midwives and health visitor s have specifically been told to advice against them. I am not sure if they even got as far as handing out the new info before covid hit and everyone was redeployed.
Just don't do ir

Thank you all for your replies. Looks like it has been worth it for some and not for others!

@Dillybear I completely agree with you. There have been occasions whereby I may have just closed my eyes for 2 seconds and next thing you know an hour has passed and he's still in my arms in bed! Luckily all has been ok but it has worried me and I don't want it to keep on happening.

I understand that there are concerns about the safety of using them and I guess that's the only thing holding me back at the moment. I'm still undecided but thank you all for your opinions! 👍🏽

This is fascinating. A very real danger is raised on this item. Professionals are advising against them due to risk of babies dying. Yet on this thread multiple People are justifing using them.????
Now babies also tend to settle nicely on their fronts, would you do that with the information that is put out? If you do , please don't advice others to do the same.
Seriously please stop giving out dangerous advice look at the lullaby trust information.
Save your money

The evidence that it's safer for babies to sleep on their backs rather than on their tummies is very clear.

The evidence of the dangers of falling asleep on a sofa, armchair or sitting up in bed with a baby in your arms is also very clear.

I think that the evidence about sleep positioners is still emerging; that's why the guidelines are being updated all the time. If the guidelines are that they're not safe, that's based on some evidence, but not as much as for the other dangers.

As I said in an earlier post, everyone makes a decision about the level of risk they are comfortable with.

We bought one for DS at about the same age to aide his transition to a cot from the Moses basket. He used it until around 8 months old.

But enough concern has been raised with an in process amount of information ( including from post mortem) to put out the warning. The fact is a baby can roll or move positions and end up smothering in a soft surface such as a sleep pod ie sleepy head.
Why are you so determined to justify the use of something that is not deemed safe from the people who actually examine why babies die?
The put your baby on the back campaign came after many years of research with many deaths along the way. You absolutely do not take risks when a suspicion has been voiced especially one where data is actually being collected showing a direct risk.
The advice has been made public so take it.

Despite the controversy, I purchased a sleepyhead and it arrived today. For the first time ever, my little one has gone down to sleep since 7.30pm. He woke up once, but was easily settled. For the first time I am not spending all night settling him back down to sleep by rocking and shushing him, almost in tears. Instead, I'm in bed watching Netflix with a bar of chocolate and a facemask! Long may it continue. 😊

Thank you all for your thoughts and opinions. I appreciate the honesty around the concerns but ultimately it comes down to personal judgement. It's much safer than me nodding off with him in my arms in bed!

Fab OP

Thanks @NameChange30 last night really was a dream! He slept 7.30pm - 4.30am, had a feed then back to sleep 5am - 8am 😊 I even woke up before him this morning to have a shower and a hot coffee before he woke up! It really is the little things x

That's not a little thing, it's huge!
We had a terrible sleeper, the sleepyhead helped but didn't fix it completely - turned out DS had silent reflux caused by CMPA But once he (and we) finally got more sleep it was a game changer.

@NameChange30 oh dear, well at least you got to the bottom of it and eventually could get more sleep!
My LO is now napping in his Sleepyhead and not in my arms for once. I don't know what to do with myself!!

We loved ours.

Two things:

In my opinion, you way up the risks. And the risks of you falling asleep accidentally whilst holding baby is a much much much bigger risk that the sleepyhead.

Secondly, despite all this 'they aren't advised', there is actually not a single piece of scientific evidence that actually stated that a 'sleepyhead is not safe'. It's just guidelines.

The Lullaby Trust don't rave about co sleeping, and yet what do the countries with the lowest SIDS rate do... co sleep.

We used the deluxe and grand religiously with all 3 DCs and it worked wonders - we did our research and were more than comfortable with the information provided by Sleepyhead re sleep safety so it's not a decision I've ever regretted

So pleased for you OP! I remember the first time I put DD down in it and she didn’t just wake up immediately. I didn’t know what to do with myself! I ended up just watching her sleep, thinking any second she’d wake up. Her sleep still isn’t brilliant but I’m functioning a lot better now that I also get some sleep and some time in the evenings! It is absolutely about balancing the risks in any given situation. It’s never possible to eliminate risk altogether.