does sleeping on my chest count as prone sleeping? Worried about SIDS...

[Upwind]

My 4 wk old DD will sometimes only sleep on my chest. I guess the options are to quite literally hold her all night, leave her to cry it out, or give in and let her have her way and sleep on her mother.

The first option is completely exhausting and, after a point, dangerous as I stumble from tiredness and can't stay awake. The second option, leaving her to cry, seems too cruel. Sleeping on my chest works but is contrary to SIDS guidelines.

I can't make any sense out of the basis for those guidelines. Does anyone have access to stats which explain that e.g. babies of parents who smoke were X times more likely to suffer from SIDS, babies who were prone sleeping Y times etc?

And does sleeping on my chest count as prone when I am propped with pillows?

Thanks!

I don't think you will find any definitive answers. All I can say is that it is quite common. I slept like this with DS1 for several months, not ideal but neither of us could sleep otherwise.

My personal opinion is that babies are unlikely to die of true SIDS but there is a risk of suffocation or smothering by pillows, blankets, baby rolling face down into the bed etc. I did all I could to mitigate these and DS1 slept completely still. DS2 has been a wriggler from newborn so I would not have slept like that with him. I still co sleep but he is on his back next to me.

Sorry not be able to give you the reassurance you want - I wanted the same answers when DS1 was a baby. Now I feel that co sleeping is the best and most natural way of sleeping and wouldn't do anything else.

Good kuck in getting some sleep

Oh and please please don't sleep like that on the sofa - bed is by far the safest place for it. In fact I was even advised to do it by my MW.

We did that for dd2's first week, because she refused to sleep in her cot. I was worried, but after the week she seemed to grow in confidence or something and didn't mind the cot any more. Are you working towards the cot?

My dp and I did shifts so that we were either awake or dozing with dd2 and then sleeping properly alone in bed for the next four hhours.

Thanks for the replies!

I am working towards getting her to sleepn in her cot, though my DD seems to be making better progress with towards sleeping on my chest!

I won't sleep that way on the sofa. My DD did once roll off (think she was trying to get at the boob), I woke up straight away. Usually if she tries to move at all it is up my chest so she can rest her head under my chin and reduce my air supply.

Rationally, I guess there can be no sensible research on this. Even the FSID guidelines will be based on the circumstances reported after a tragedy - and will so be biased for obvious reasons. I just have to balance the risks of suffocation against the exhaustion of battling her all night (after several all nighters in a row she was still unwilling to consider sleeping in cot/crib/travel cot...).

I would be happier if I could follow unicef guidelines with my DD, and have her sleeping beside me. But she just screams until she is picked up and can sleep on me!

my DDs slept like that for the first few weeks. It always felt pretty safe to me tbh.

DD1 then moved quite happily to her moses basket but DD2 never really managed it .

I think the problem here is that the safety guidelines are based on babies sleeping alone or half-supervised in cots, moses baskets etc. Common sense dictates to me that she should be fine on your chest as like you say, you would wake up if anything happened. But I'm not a scientist. There is a theory that co-sleeping in any form is safer than babies sleeping alone as the mother's breathing stimulates the baby to remember to breathe. Long article here.

I just used my common sense - make it as safe as you can - don't wear loose clothing while she sleeps on you for example.

There were 2 factors to the prone sleeping thing as far as I am aware - the main one being the more obvious danger of suffocating due to their faces being into the mattress (not such a concern if her face is into your bare skin, or if you would wake at a change of position to move her head sideways) and the other one being that they sleep more deeply and might forget to breathe (which is negated by the fact your breathing stimulates hers)

Even the FSID guidelines will be based on the circumstances reported after a tragedy - and will so be biased for obvious reasons.

This is not true, everything on the FSID website is backed up by extensive research, nothing is based on hearsay and is all hard scientific evidence.

It is a SIDS risk to have your baby sleeping on you, infact it's unfortunately a very common place where babies are found to have died suddenly and unexpectedly. Your baby is least likely to die sleeping in a cot in your room. The sofa is the most dangerous place for your baby to sleep. "Cot death" is misleading as the place where your baby is least likely to die is actually in a cot.

If you Co-sleep the baby should be on a firm surface, on his back with his own covers tucked under his shoulders or in a grobag. You should not cosleep if either of you are a smoker, even if you do not smoke in bed, take drugs, have drunk anything alcoholic or are excessively tired.

I am sure that this is not the answer you were looking for but these are the facts. Ultimately, armed with the facts you have to decide where you're willing to take the risks and where you aren't. The chances of your baby dying like this is very slim, only around 350 babies die from SIDS each year but it's all about risks and how far you're prepared to take them.