Our email newsletters keep you up to date with what’s happening on Babyology. We also have special newsletter-only offers and competitions that are exclusive to Babyology subscribers.To the uninformed viewer it has a touch of the straitjacket about it, but according to its makers this “smart crib” is based on sound paediatric advice. Called a Snoo, the cot is a collaboration between Yves Behar, the designer of Jawbone, a wristband that tracks movement and sleep, and Dr Harvey Karp, an LA paediatrician and the author of The Happiest Baby on the Block. Karp argues that human babies are born less developed than other mammals and the first three months of life are, in effect, a “fourth trimester”. It follows that his method for promoting a restful baby is to recreate a womblike experience. He recommends employing “the five Ss” to soothe a crying infant: swaddling, side/stomach positioning, shushing, swinging and sucking. His methods are controversial: critics claim there is no evidence for his concept of a “calming reflex”, but this hasn’t stopped the paediatrician earning celebrity endorsements from, among others, Michelle Pfeiffer and Madonna.
Behar’s fuseproject design studio worked with Karp for five years to develop a cot to soothe crying babies, and the result is, according to Behar, the “world’s safest bed”. The crib has three microphones to detect if the baby is crying, and underneath the mattress are movement sensors, speakers and a motor. These devices combine to detect noise and movement, and then trigger white noise and/or a gentle rocking movement until the baby drifts back to sleep. The Snoo sack contains a built-in sensor to monitor the baby’s temperature and is designed to mimic the “snug embrace” of the womb, while allowing sufficient soothing movement. The onesie is, of course, removable for washing. The mattress is fitted with sensors to detect a baby’s crying – it responds with a gentle rocking motion. Naturally, no smart cot would be complete without its own app. Parents can monitor their child’s sleep using the Snoo app and fuseproject promises that future updates will allow parents to track their baby’s sleep habits over time for signs of progression or irregularities.
The aim is not only to improve the infant’s sleep but that of its parents. As Behar says, “As a father of four children, I am intimately familiar with sleep deprivation. It is more than a burden – it can quickly become a health problem for both parents and the baby.” Choice said the three mattresses failed their "firmness test". Consumer group Choice is calling for a mandatory safety standard for all cot mattresses after its testing found three products from big-name brands posed a suffocation risk to babies. Key points:Sealy, Love N Care and Childcare mattresses deemed a potential suffocation risk to babiesConsumer group Choice conducted 'rigorous' tests on cot mattressesChoice's results and claims disputed by Sealy and Childcare, after their own in-house testing Choice tested 12 products and found mattresses by Sealy, Love N Care and Childcare were too soft and could potentially cover a baby's face.An Australian standard for the firmness of mattresses was introduced in 2013, but is not mandatory.
Tom Godfrey from Choice said it was time the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) looked at introducing mandatory standards."We know that mattresses that are too soft are a risk factor that can lead to SIDS, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, so we think it's really important that this voluntary standard is looked at by the ACCC and the requirements of it made mandatory as part of the review of the Australian Standard later this year," Mr Godfrey said. The ABC has contacted Sealy, Love N Care and Childcare for comment. Childcare said in a statement that they took "the safety and quality of our products extremely seriously".Childcare said its mattresses passed all of its own tests, but said they supported calls to mandate the firmness test as standard. Do you know more about this story? Sealy spokesman Matthew Thomas said they performed the same test as Choice and could not replicate the results."Sealy has undertaken a review of its cot mattress specifications to ensure that its mattresses fully comply with all standards," he said.
But Mr Godfrey said the Choice testing could be more rigorous than the testing performed by the brands themselves."When Choice approached the companies and informed them that their mattresses had failed the firmness test, obviously they take it very seriously," he said."The difference being that we test these mattresses the way a consumer would use it."The companies may be doing their tests in house but the critical thing, the reason we want to see this mandated is that Choice is testing it as a baby would use it, as a consumer would use it in the home, and what we found is that these three big name brands, three of their products have failed and we don't think it's good enough. "What we're doing is we're using a test rig, a weight essentially, and we're finding the weakest point, the softest point in the mattress, and we're simulating what a baby's nose or mouth would do as it sinks into the mattress, it's a pretty simple test but it's a vital test because what it's doing is alerting the consumer to the fact that their baby's face can be covered by the mattress."
Mr Godfrey said mandatory safety standards exist for cots and mattresses that are sold as part of a package, but not when the mattress is sold on its own.Safety tips on how to sleep babies safely can be found on the Sids & Kids website. It may be surprising, but there are actually quite a few options to consider when deciding where your baby will sleep. Your decision may be based on what you think is the safest option for your baby, convenience, how much space you have in your home, what you or your partner is most comfortable with or just personal preference. Many parents combine options as their baby gets older or if something isn’t working for them “ you can change at any time, but it’s great to know there are a few choices! No matter what choice you make, safe sleeping guidelines apply to each option. According to Sids and Kids, the 6 major points for safe sleeping in order to avoid SIDS are: 1. Sleep baby on the back from birth, not on the tummy or side 2. Sleep baby with head and face uncovered 3.
Keep baby smoke free before birth and after 4. Provide a safe sleeping environment night and day 5. Sleep baby in their own safe sleeping place in the same room as an adult caregiver for the first six to twelve months 6. Breastfeed baby These things make for the safest sleeping possible for your baby. As for the most developmentally beneficial way to sleep with your baby, research tells us that’s its best being as close as you can to your baby. In a recent paper the University of Notre Dame reaffirmed the importance of closeness and responsiveness in their study “ even addressing how modern methods of parenting could be harmful to a baby’s development: “Ill-advised practices and beliefs have become commonplace in our culture, such as the use of infant formula, the isolation of infants in their own rooms or the belief that responding too quickly to a fussing baby will ‘spoil’ itThis new research links certain early, nurturing parenting practices “ the kind common in foraging hunter-gatherer societies “ to specific, healthy emotional outcomes in adulthood, and has many experts rethinking some of our modern, cultural child-rearing “norms.”
“Breastfeeding infants, responsiveness to crying, almost constant touch and having multiple adult caregivers are some of the nurturing ancestral parenting practices that are shown to positively impact the developing brain, which not only shapes personality, but also helps physical health and moral development,” says Narvaez. That said, lets look at what options you can choose from! The most popular option in Australia that we’re most familiar with “ baby being in a cot. Sids and Kids make the following recommendations for cot sleeping: They also recommend that baby sleep in a cot in their parents room for the first 6-12 months of life. œMy daughter sleeps in my room in her cot, she’s 8 months old and still wakes, so she will stay in there until she stops waking through the night! ” Zoey Perry, BB Fan A cosleeper is a brilliant option for people who want to sleep as close as possible to their babies, without actually being in the same bed. It combines all the other methods to get the best of everything!
Obviously the same safe sleeping guidelines would apply as per the cot sleeping guidelines. The difference the cosleeper has is that it can sit right up against your bed, at the bed’s height, so you can reach over and grab your baby. Its brilliant for those night time feeds and helpful if you’ve had a caesarean. Cosleepers wont last you as long as a cot, they have an infant weight limit of 10.4 kgs, but I am a huge fan of them as they are portable, easy to set up and dissemble and great for travelling or nights away from home “ baby will have the familiar smells of his own bed. The Arms’ Reach Cosleeper has won numerous awards and rightly so “ its a brilliant idea to help keep babies closer to mum. More mothers are choosing to cosleep with their babies, which is the norm for numerous cultures who have never even heard of SIDS. Many western parents are fearful of cosleeping and rolling onto their baby, but having coslept with all three of my babies, you really do feel in tune with one another and we’ve not had one scary incident.
Its my most favourite way to sleep a baby. Just like cot sleeping, there are safe and unsafe cosleeping practices “ sadly we’ve seen deaths in the media where babies have suffocated where a parent fell asleep on the couch with their baby and the baby had fallen between the couch and the parent. This sounds scary but this is NOT safe cosleeping, nor is it recommended to sleep this way by any person or organisation. SIDS and Kids state that ‘sharing a sleep surface with a baby increases the risk of sudden infant death and fatal sleeping accidents in some circumstances’. There are some absolute no-no’s for co-sleeping which must be followed in order to reduce risk. According to SIDS and Kids, you should not share a sleep surface with a baby if: Never fall asleep with baby lying on its tummy on your chest, or sleep baby on a soft mattress, sofa, beanbag, or waterbed with or without a parent as there is a very high risk of a sleep accident. All seriousness aside, cosleeping is a beautiful, most rewarding thing to do for many parents who cosleep, and studies have shown that cosleeping parents are both more likely to be breastfeeding and are actually getting more sleep at night than their non-cosleeping counterparts.
Since lack of sleep is a major contributor to postnatal depression, if practiced safely, cosleeping just may help you get enough sleep which in turn may help you avoid depression. I highly recommend reading the book, Sleeping With Your Baby by Professor James McKenna. For more information on cosleeping and safety, please see our other articles: Sleeping With Baby: Safe Cosleeping Tips Is It Safe To Sleep With My Baby? Rolling Onto Baby While Cosleeping œWe went in with the idea of a bassinet for the first 6 months then in his own cot/room after that. But after 5 weeks on getting up hourly through the night, and me turning into a banshee, we brought him into bed with us and haven’t looked back! We all get more sleep and I am a much happier mummy, resulting in a happier family! Cosleeping is perfectly safe when all the risk factors are removed. ” Amy Rushbrook, BB Member œOur 29 month old sleeps with us and will till she decides not to ! We reckon as adults we don’t like to sleep by ourselves so why would our baby?
Helps with the breastfeeding too¦ ” Susan Bhadury, BB Fan Hammocks are used around the world by cultures near and far. They are used in baby sleep clinics and offer babies a beautiful, warm, swaddled environment that helps soothe them in a similar way as they would be in the womb. Babies tend to sleep for a longer duration in hammocks and it helps prevent flathead which has become more common since parents changed to safe cot sleeping recommendations “ on baby’s back on a firm mattress. Just like the cosleeper, a hammock is portable so you can take it with you when travelling or staying somewhere overnight. A baby will last longer in a hammock than a cosleeper, with one BellyBelly member saying that her son still enjoyed bouncing himself off to sleep at 24 months! And don’t they look fabulous “ I am waiting for the adult version to be released! Baby hammocks are great for special needs and restless babies. It is especially soothing for premmies, babies with colic, infant reflux, restless sleepers and short nappers.