Best Newborn Sleep Tips from Doulas

1. Back to sleep, for every sleep

The one rule that never changes

The AAP says to place your baby on their back for all naps and at night. Side sleeping is not a safe middle ground, the AAP explains, because a baby on their side can roll onto their stomach more easily. Babies on their backs will not choke: their airway anatomy and gag reflex protect them, and the AAP says even babies with reflux should sleep flat on their backs.

Once your baby can roll both ways on their own, the AAP says you do not need to keep turning them back over. Keep placing them down on their back to start.

2. Use a firm, flat, bare sleep space

Setting up the crib or bassinet

The AAP recommends a crib, bassinet, portable crib or play yard that meets Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) standards, with a mattress that fits tightly and a fitted sheet only. A firm surface should not indent when your baby lies on it, and the AAP says any surface inclined more than 10 degrees is not safe for sleep.

Doula tip: make up the bassinet before the birth and put nothing else in it. No bumpers, pillows, positioners, loungers, nests or stuffed animals. If it is not a fitted sheet, it does not belong there.

3. Share a room, not a bed

Easier night feeds, safely

The AAP recommends keeping your baby’s sleep space in your room, close to your bed but not in it, for at least the first six months, and it advises against bed-sharing under any circumstances. It notes that room-sharing can lower the risk of SIDS by as much as 50%.

If you bring your baby into your bed to feed or comfort them, the AAP says to put them back in their own space before you go to sleep. Be even more careful on the couch: the AAP reports the risk of sleep-related infant death is up to 67 times higher when a baby sleeps with someone on a couch, soft armchair or cushion. If you feel yourself nodding off during a feed, put the baby down in their bassinet first.

4. Skip weighted and “anti-SIDS” products

Registry and gift decisions

The AAP says not to use weighted blankets, sleepers, swaddles or other weighted objects on or near your baby, and to be wary of any product that claims to reduce the risk of SIDS, because there is no evidence that it does. It also says home cardiorespiratory monitors should not be used as a way to lower SIDS risk.

Products not made for infant sleep, such as nursing pillows and loungers, should not be used for sleep either. When in doubt, the AAP points parents to the CPSC website.

5. Move a sleeping baby out of the car seat

Arriving home from errands

Car seats, strollers, swings, infant carriers and slings are not recommended for routine sleep, the AAP says, especially for babies under four months. If your baby falls asleep in one, move them to a firm, flat sleep surface on their back as soon as you safely can.

Doula tip: the car seat is for the car. Unbuckle and transfer at the door, even if it means a brief wake-up. Most newborns settle again quickly once they are swaddled or in a sleep sack.

6. Keep your baby cool, not bundled

Arizona homes and air conditioning

Overheating raises the risk of SIDS, the AAP explains. Dress your baby in one layer more than you would wear in the same room, and check for sweating, a hot chest or flushed skin. The AAP also says not to put a hat on your baby indoors once you are home from the hospital.

If you are worried about the air conditioning, the AAP suggests layers of clothing or a wearable blanket instead of a loose blanket. A sleep sack is one of the most useful things you can own in a Scottsdale summer.

7. Swaddle on the back, and stop when rolling starts

Settling the startle reflex

The AAP says swaddling is fine if you like it, but it does not lower SIDS risk. Always place a swaddled baby on their back, keep the wrap loose enough at the hips and chest, and stop swaddling when your baby looks like they are trying to roll over. That usually happens around three to four months but can come earlier. Never use a weighted swaddle.

For product picks, see our list of the best swaddles for newborns.

8. Offer a pacifier at sleep time

Naps and bedtime

The AAP says pacifiers help reduce the risk of SIDS, even if the pacifier falls out after your baby is asleep. If you are breastfeeding, wait until feeding is going well (a good supply, comfortable latch, steady weight gain) before offering one. You do not need to put it back in once your baby is asleep, and never hang it around the neck or clip it to clothing during sleep. Some babies simply do not want one, and that is fine.

9. Keep the sound machine far away and quiet

Families who use white noise

A 2014 study in the AAP journal Pediatrics measured infant sleep machines and found that at maximum volume some could exceed recommended noise limits for infants. The authors suggested placing the machine as far from the baby as possible, keeping the volume as low as possible and limiting how long it runs. Put it across the room, not on the crib rail.

10. Make days bright and nights dim and boring

Day-night confusion

Newborns do not arrive knowing night from day. Doulas help by keeping daytime feeds in normal light and household noise, and night feeds quiet, dim and businesslike: low light, minimal talking, a diaper change only if needed, then straight back down on the back in the bassinet. Daily supervised tummy time while your baby is awake, which the AAP recommends for development, fits naturally into the daytime half of that rhythm.

11. Protect the adults’ sleep, too

Getting through the first weeks

An exhausted parent is more likely to doze off holding the baby, which is exactly the situation the AAP warns about. Take night shifts with a partner so each of you gets one longer stretch. Say yes to help. If you are feeding with pumped milk or formula, someone else can take a feed.

This is the gap an overnight postpartum doula fills: someone awake and alert who follows safe sleep practice while you rest. Read what an overnight postpartum doula actually does, or compare options in night doula vs. night nanny.