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This morning, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a new set of safe sleep guidelines?the biggest update since 2011.  Many of the recommendations are more of the same advice we?ve heard previously?don?t use bumper pads or blankets, always put baby to sleep on her back, don?t bed-share?but some of the new findings and suggestions are going to be harder for many parents to incorporate into their routines.
The 20-page policy statement tackles the topic of SIDS and safe sleep more thoroughly than ever before, using lots of different meta-analyses and studies. We spoke with co-author Lori Winter-Feldman, who is a professor of paediatrics, a practicing paediatrician in Camden, New Jersey, and a member of the Task Force on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, to help guide us through what we found most surprising in the AAP report. Here’s what we learned. Parents should room-share for an entire year.

The AAP is still adamantly against bed-sharing (sometimes called co-sleeping) for safety reasons, but, they say, we should be room-sharing for at least six months, and, optimally, a full year. Here?s the exact wording: ?It is recommended that infants sleep in the parents? room, close to the parents? bed, but on a separate surface. The infant?s crib, portable crib, play yard or bassinet should be placed in the parents? bedroom ideally for the first year of life, but at least for the first six months.?
Yup, we know, this sounds extra cautious?and...