How can you help your infant sleep and nap safely?

• Infants should ALWAYS be placed on their backs (face up) when they are resting, sleeping, or left alone.
• Infants should be placed on their tummies (tummy time) ONLY when they are awake and supervised by someone responsible. Supervised tummy time is encouraged to help make your infant’s neck and back muscles strong.
• When infants are napping or sleeping they should ONLY be placed in cribs approved by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
  • Mattresses should ALWAYS fit snugly into the crib’s frame.
  • Cribs made after 1982 and sold in the United States by a retailer should, by law, meet the CPSC safety standards for cribs.
• If you do not have a crib, your infant can be placed to sleep on another safe, firm sleep surface such as a bassinet, cradle, or co-sleeper that does not have any soft or fluffy items on its sleep surface
• Infants should ALWAYS be placed on a firm surface or mattress.
• Dress your infant in a sleeper or warm pajama instead of covering infant with a blanket.
• If you choose to cover your infant, ALWAYS make sure the blanket stays at or lower than the infant’s waist.
• ALWAYS dress your infant the way that you would want to be dressed for the temperature around you.
• Parents or caregivers who choose to share a bed with their infant should NEVER smoke or be under the influence of alcohol or drugs while sleeping with their infant.
• Parents or caregivers who want to be close to their infant while they are sleeping can move the crib, bassinet, or co-sleeper next to their bed.
• Safest place for an infant to sleep is in their own crib or other separate safe sleep surface next to the parent or caregiver's bed. 
• NEVER place your infant on a sofa, couch, pillow, or waterbed.
• NEVER place your infant to sleep or to nap with any pillows, stuffed toys, bumper pads, comforters, quilts, or sheepskin.
• NEVER smoke in the same room as an infant or child.
• NEVER let anybody else smoke in the same room as your infant or child.

References for Safe Sleeping Environments

The changing concept of sudden infant death syndrome: diagnostic coding shifts, controversies regarding the sleeping environment, and new variables to consider in reducing risk. American Academy of Pediatrics. Task Force on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Pediatrics 2005;116:1245–1255.

Hauck FR, Herman SM, Donovan M, Iyasu S, Merrick MC, Donoghue E et al. Sleep environment and the risk of sudden infant death syndrome in an urban population: the Chicago Infant Mortality Study. Pediatrics 2003;111:1207–1214.

Moon RY, Patel KM, Shaefer SJ. Sudden infant death syndrome in child care settings. Pediatrics 2000;106:295–300.

Page last reviewed: 3/15/08
Page last modified: 3/15/08
Content source: Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion