The "Safe Sleep 7" are guidelines from La Leche League International (LLLI) for safer bedsharing with a breastfed baby, focusing on eliminating risks like smoking, alcohol, and soft bedding, ensuring the baby is on their back, lightly dressed, and in a healthy, full-term state, with sober, non-smoking parents on a firm surface.
Smoking can cause babies to be born too small and to be delivered too soon. SECONDHAND SMOKE INCREASES RISKS. Exposure to secondhand smoke increases your baby's risk of SIDS and sleep-related infant death. It can damage baby's lungs.
The Trump administration's decision to end federal participation in the Safe to Sleep campaign comes as recent data show sudden infant deaths rising. Also: Education Department grant cuts, animals in federally funded research, PEPFAR cut impacts, and more.
Breastfed babies orient themselves near their mother's breast in bed. Research3 shows that mothers who bedshare with their breastfed babies adopt a naturally protective position, making smothering unlikely.
Weeks 5-8 are the hardest for newborns it eases up a bit after that much better by 12 weeks.
The 5-3-3 rule is a loose guideline for structuring a baby's sleep schedule: 5 hours of wake time before the first nap, 3 hours of wake time before the second nap, and 3 hours before bedtime.
Do your best to stop smoking and give up alcohol, and go easy on the tea, coffee and anything else with caffeine. Ask your midwife or GP for support. Take prenatal vitamins. You're advised to take 400mcg of folic acid every day, until at least week 12.
The Safe Sleep Seven outlines when bedsharing is considered a low-risk option for breastfeeding families: no smoking, sober and unimpaired caregivers, a healthy full-term baby, placed on their back, lightly dressed, on a safe sleep surface, and breastfeeding.
If your mixed feeding involves exchanging some breastfeeds for baby formula, then your baby will not receive as many benefits as they normally would if they were exclusively breastfed. As such, their immune system may not be as well protected from certain infections1.
The "4-4-4 rule" for breast milk is a simple storage guideline: fresh milk is good for 4 hours at room temperature (up to 77°F/25°C), for 4 days in the refrigerator (39°F/4°C or colder), and up to 4-6 months (or longer) in a standard freezer (0°F/-18°C). It's a handy mnemonic, though some organizations like the CDC recommend up to 6 months in the freezer and the AAP up to 9 months, with deeper freezers offering even longer storage.
If a baby is breathing stale air and not getting enough oxygen, the brain usually triggers the baby to wake up and cry to get more oxygen.
Sleeping on the right side increases the strain on the heart, especially in people with cardiovascular diseases. In this position, the heart must pump blood against the force of gravity, which can lead to higher blood pressure and disrupt its function.
UC Davis Health vascular surgeon answers questions about this common condition. President Donald Trump has been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency (CVI). This common condition happens when veins in your arms or legs get damaged. When that happens, the veins can't move blood as well as they should.
Why Does SIDS Peak at 2-4 Months? The widely accepted explanation for the SIDS peak has to do with the timeline of brain development. “Up to 4 months old, the part of the brain that controls breathing and wakefulness is under a lot of development,” Juliet explains.
The 3-2-1 bedtime method is a simple sleep hygiene strategy: stop eating 3 hours before bed, stop working 2 hours before bed, and stop using screens (phones, tablets, TVs) 1 hour before sleep, helping your body transition to rest by reducing stimulants and digestive load for better sleep quality. A more detailed version adds 10 hours (no caffeine) and 0 (no snoozing) for a 10-3-2-1-0 rule.
Then, if possible, wait two to three hours before nursing again. After smoking a cigarette, it takes 95 minutes for half of the nicotine in your system to be eliminated. If your baby wakes to feed in that 2 to 3-hour window, breastfeed, of course. Smoke outside or in a separate room.
Alia Bhatt recently spoke about her postpartum journey, sharing how breastfeeding her daughter Raha naturally helped her lose weight. But what drew attention was the pace of her recovery, sparking online conversations.
Signs of overfeeding a baby include frequent spitting up/vomiting, fussiness, gassiness, a tight belly, and changes in stool (loose, green, frothy, or explosive). While babies often know when they're full (turning away, falling asleep), signs of overfeeding often involve discomfort and digestive issues, sometimes with rapid weight gain or a very full, hard tummy, especially if fed past fullness cues.
Types of Breastfeeding
It has been shown that partial or combination feeding (breast milk and formula) and exclusive breastfeeding have been associated with lower sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) rates. Thankfully, SIDS is now very rare.
How to be safe if you share a bed with your baby
Yes, babies will grow out of feeding to sleep, but it may take some time: About 4 months: Babies can start to self-soothe, so you can move nighttime feedings to the beginning of your bedtime routine. About 6 months: Most babies have outgrown the need for a bedtime bottle or breast for milk.
The "3-2-1 Rule" in pregnancy is a guideline for first-time mothers to know when to call their midwife or doctor for active labor: consistent contractions that are 3 minutes apart, lasting 2 minutes each, for 1 hour (or sometimes cited as 3-1-1, meaning 3 minutes apart, 1 minute long, for 1 hour). For subsequent pregnancies, the 5-1-1 Rule (5 minutes apart, 1 minute long, for 1 hour) is often used, indicating labor is progressing more quickly.
Toxoplasmosis (tok-so-plaz-MOE-sis) is an infection with a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. People often get the infection from eating undercooked meat. You can also get it from contact with cat feces. The parasite can pass to a baby during pregnancy.
Certain nutrients, such as vitamins A, C, and E, folic acid tablets, omega-3 fatty acids, and antioxidants, are particularly beneficial for promoting healthy skin development and fair complexion for the baby during pregnancy.