Experts advise that the safest way for a baby to sleep is with nothing in the cot, only baby and sleeping bag, for the first year. This is because a soft toy, lovey, blankie or baby comforter can present a suffocation risk.

During the first year, babies develop at very different stages so while one child may be able to sit up, crawl and handle a comforter with confidence at 8 months, another may only just be learning how to roll over. This is why it’s essential parents use their judgement when giving a baby under one a lovey to sleep with. Infants don’t have the strength or co-ordination to remove anything that may fall over their face.

However, baby comforters, blankies, or loveys, can play an essential role in helping a baby learn how to sleep through the night. And the earlier they’re introduced, the sooner they can help give your baby that all important comfort and reassurance at bedtime. Here’s how to introduce the Sleepytot baby comforter so that you and your little one get all the benefits of a baby comforter and keep safe too.

Start by keeping it near your skin for a few hours. Pop it under your top while you are doing the housework or, even better, sleep with it for a night. This helps it to take on your familiar, comforting smell.

When you first introduce the Sleepytot, hold it between you and your baby while you’re feeding. During the day, take it out and about with you in the buggy or pram. You can place it under your baby’s head in the plastic supermarket trolley seats or when changing her on a hard surface.

At bedtime, use the paws to attach your baby’s comforter to the cot bars. She will benefit from smelling it nearby and seeing her favourite friend close to her.

If your baby uses a dummy or soother, you can attach these to the comforter when she is about 4 months old. During the day, play with the Sleepytot and the dummy – it’s a great way of helping your baby to develop hand eye co-ordination. If your baby doesn’t have a dummy, try putting linkies on there or a tommee tippee teether – this makes it just as much fun for your baby.

As your baby grows older, she will learn how to roll over, sit up, crawl and handle her Sleepytot with confidence. When you know it’s safe, you can then leave her to cuddle her Sleepytot baby comforter at night so she can soothe herself to sleep – and find her dummy without calling for you!

Tags: Baby comforter, Baby lovey, baby sleep

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 15th, 2010 at 12:43 pm and is filed under Baby comforter, Baby toys, baby sleep. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.