Many central Pennsylvania families associate summer nights with fireflies, flashlight tag and stargazing. For new parents, keeping your baby sleeping safely and comfortably in warmer temperatures can be top of mind.
Overheated babies can become irritable and restless, making a good night’s sleep difficult. Babies can’t self-regulate their temperatures until they are two- to three-months old, and knowing how to keep your baby safe and comfortable is important.
Dr. Michael Goodstein, director of newborn services and a neonatologist at WellSpan York Hospital, helps share safe sleep advice for avoiding sleep-related deaths of infants. This includes the ABCs of safe sleep: Placing babies to sleep ALONE, on their BACK and in their own CRIB.
Dr. Goodstein also recommends that babies wear a sleep sack, also known as a wearable blanket. Unlike loose blankets, sleep sacks are snugly fitted and do not cover the face or neck, reducing the risk of suffocation or entanglement.
In warmer weather babies don’t need as many layers of clothing. Care should be taken to ensure the baby does not become overheated, Dr. Goodstein said.
The summer season adds a consideration to safety fundamentals: room temperature. Ideally, room temperature is between 68 and 72 degrees, as overheating can increase the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Parents and caregivers should take care to prevent their baby from getting too warm by monitoring the thermostat and not overdressing the baby.
Most sleep sacks have a thermal overall grade, or TOG rating, which refers to the thermal insulation of the sleep sack. In the summer, a TOG rating of 0.5 or 1.0 is sufficient when paired with proper pajamas such as PJs made of cotton, Dr. Goodstein said.
For maintaining the recommended room temperature range, fans can be a good way to circulate air throughout a child’s sleeping area and to help keep the room cooler. In addition, fans provide a source of white noise which also helps babies sleep.
“Just be careful to avoid placing a fan within reach of a baby or toddler,” Dr. Goodstein said.
Educating parents and caregivers on important health practices like safe sleep is just one way WellSpan shows its commitment to nurturing the health, safety and development of children. Through the Spotlight on Children’s Health initiative, WellSpan collaborates with a dozen community organizations to enhance early childhood education and mentorship programs to ensure children thrive from birth through adolescence.
To learn about information like this or to learn more about WellSpan’s Spotlight on Children’s Health initiative, readers may visit www.WellSpan.org.
