Duvet safety - 7 month old sleeps better on a duvet.

[SamboM]

My dd is 7 months on Friday and I have always swaddled her. She is gradually getting used to sleeping without the swaddle. She is awful at sleeping during the day.

Today her nanny put her to bed and as she has a nasty cold, she put a duvet (adult sized, folded in half) under her, folded at one end so that she was propped up a bit. She slept for 2.5 hours (previous record 45 mins during the day) and I had to wake her up. I have never seen her sleep so deeply or look so comfy!

So my question is, is it safe to put her to bed at night on a duvet? I would put a sheet on the top so that there was no risk of her getting tangled up in it, but i am concerned that there may be a good reason why I shouldn't.

I'm probably not the best mum to listen to as I am quite blase about most things (eg. I let my son sit on on the kitchen bench with no restraints etc) but I can't see why not.

My son has a fantastic mattress but when I thought about it I realised that with him being so light (in comparison to the mattress) it probably felt like cement he was sleeping on. I have since folded up a duvet and put this under his mattress protector and sheet and he sleeps much better. He does still wake during the night but that is more because of habit or him being cold than uncomfortable. I'm currently trying to figure out how to stop him waking in the night.

I have also nearly always propped my son up in a similar fashion to what your nanny has done today. I know they say don't put them on pillows etc but he has always slept on an angle even if that meant putting phone books under one end of the cot. This eased his colic when he was younger and now when he has colds does help him sleep better.

Do you use Olbas oil to help ease the cold? I use it but notice that sometimes if I put too much on it makes his nose run more. I tend to put it on the sheet rather than him at bed time and on his sleeves during the day. I find it works really well.

I also found that he tends to vomit at night when he has a cold. More because he always has a cry when I put him to bed at night and if he is really clogged up his body uses this as its way of clearing the mucus. He always crys for a minimum of 1 minute to a maximum of 8 before he drops off to sleep but if his cold has been extreme then he will cough during this period of time and up everything comes.

I think I've deviated from your original question so sorry about that. Good luck with all the advice. As I say I don't know if you should trust mine as I really am very laid back.

As meanmum I can't see why not either - the big issues I understand are making sure that they cannot wriggle down under the covers and overheating under a big duvet. Sleeping on a duvet or quilt will not cause a problem with either of these. You could buy a smaller duvet, as DD will grow into that eventually.

Also, big fan of baby sleeping bags - keep them warm, safe and definitely help with sleeping.

With my DS when he had a cold we used to put olbas oil in a steamer - this helped him sleep better. Only problem is that you can't then use to sterilise bottles. Or just put the steamer in nursery and the steam will help with blocked nose etc....

Again relaxed mum, but can't see problem with what you are doing.

Message withdrawn

Yup, first lesson from the midwives in Danish maternity wards is how to wrap baby in his/her duvet!

Scared me at first but the Danes have a rather low rate of cot deaths so I guess its fine.

Well, dd is snuggled happily into her duvet with no swaddle, we'll just have to wait and see if it works all night...

...and thanks for all your advice. Posted that too soon by mistake! I am pretty relaxed as well, anything for an easy night's sleep so long as it's safe

Good luck. Fingers crossed she sleeps all night for you.

Friends in Germany were using one with their 6 month old when I was there - it was considered ''normal'' there.

Well it worked from 7 till 10pm, she slept without a swaddle. Then she woke & wouldn't settle at all so swaddled her and instant sleep! Then she woke at 2am with a temperature of 103 which nearly gave me a heart attack! It came down quickly though.

Think I will persevere with the duvet. Have also ordered a grobag.