LullsongSafe sleep: the essentials
Updated 24 October 2026 · Written by the Lullsong team. General information, not medical advice.
Short answer
Put your baby to sleep on their back, on a firm, flat surface with only a fitted sheet, in your room but not in your bed for at least the first six months. Keep pillows, blankets, bumpers and toys out, avoid inclines over 10 degrees and weighted products, and don’t let your baby get too hot. These are the American Academy of Pediatrics’ 2022 recommendations.
The core rules
- On the back, for every nap and every night. Side sleeping is not a safe middle ground.
- Firm and flat: a crib or bassinet mattress with a fitted sheet and nothing else.
- Close, but separate: share a room, not a bed, for at least the first six months.
- Nothing soft: no pillows, loose blankets, bumpers or soft toys in the sleep space.
- Not on a sofa or armchair: falling asleep there with a baby is especially dangerous.
- Move sleeping babies: if your baby falls asleep in a car seat, swing, stroller or carrier, move them to a flat surface on their back as soon as you can.
Things that lower the risk
- Breast milk lowers the risk of sudden infant death, and longer breastfeeding lowers it more.
- A pacifier at naps and bedtime lowers the risk. If you breastfeed, wait until feeding is going well.
- No smoking, vaping or nicotine in pregnancy or around your baby, and no alcohol or drugs.
Products to skip
- Sleep products inclined more than 10 degrees.
- Weighted blankets, sleepers and swaddles.
- Hats indoors once you are home from the hospital, and heavy layers. See room temperature and clothing.
Where sound fits in
A phone or sound machine belongs outside the crib, with no cables in reach. Keep it quiet and on a timer: see is white noise safe for babies?
Sources
- Moon RY, Carlin RF, Hand I; AAP Task Force on SIDS. Sleep-related infant deaths: updated 2022 recommendations for reducing infant deaths in the sleep environment. Pediatrics 2022;150:e2022057990. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2022-057990
More sleep guides
- Wake window calculator
- Nap schedule maker
- Sleeping through the night: what’s normal
- The 4-month sleep regression: what’s actually known
- Wake windows: what the research actually says
- Is white noise safe for babies?
- When to stop swaddling
- Room temperature and what to wear
- Contact naps: what’s safe and what’s known
- Dream feeds: do they work?
- Lullabies and singing: what the research shows
Lullsong
Lullsong plays soft white noise and lullabies for naps and bedtime, with a 30-minute timer on by default.