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Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Wee Care Program: Back to Sleep

In our NICU, you will find that once your baby is 34 weeks in gestation, the nurses will start transitioning your baby to his/her back to sleep. This is very important for you and your baby to adjust to. The positioning aids such as the bendy bumpers, Freddy the Frog positioning pillows, and developmental nests will start being removed in order for your baby to begin practicing Back to Sleep.

It's very important that when you take your baby home, you place your baby on his/her back to sleep. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants be placed on their backs to sleep (not on their tummies) to help protect them from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). If your baby moves on his/her own to another position, it is not necessary to correct the position, as long as you've followed the above guideline. It is also important for your infant to sleep in a bed with appropriate side protection, a firm mattress and no soft objects in the bed such as pillows or stuffed animals. Infants should sleep in their own beds, not with older siblings or adults.

Once your baby begins Back to Sleep, you will also see your baby's nurse practicing tummy time with your baby. Tummy time is very important for your baby's development and can be practiced while your baby is awake and with you watching. Tummy time helps your baby's muscle and nerve growth and also helps prevent a misshapen (flat) head that occasionally results when a baby sleeps on his/her back.

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