Sharing a room with your baby

Sharing a room with your baby is when your baby sleeps on a separate safe sleep surface in the same room as you.

Sharing a room reduces the risk of sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) including SIDS and fatal sleep accidents.

It can also make it easier to settle and breastfeed your baby at night.

About sharing a room with your baby

Sharing a room is when your baby sleeps on their own separate safe sleep surface in the same room as you. A separate safe sleep surface could be a safe cot or portacot, bassinet, baby box or pepi-pod.

Sharing a room with your baby is not the same as co-sleeping. Co-sleeping is when babies sleep on the same surface as another person.

Benefits of sharing a room with your baby

Room-sharing with separate sleep surfaces for you and your baby for the first year of life or at least for the first 6 months has been shown to halve the risk of sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) including sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and fatal sleep accidents.

This might be because the reflexes that protect your baby’s airways work better when your baby is close to you while they’re sleeping. These reflexes include swallowing, stirring or waking up if it’s hard for your baby to breathe or their airways become blocked.

Sharing a room with your baby has other benefits too. It can make it easier to respond quickly when your baby wakes and easier to breastfeed during the night. It can also help with bonding and understanding your baby’s cues and needs.

Wherever your baby sleeps, their airways must be open so they can breathe easily.  A safe sleep environment helps to keep your baby’s airways open and reduces SUDI risk. In a safe sleep environment, your baby sleeps on their back, on a firm, flat and level surface, in a space that’s clear, not too hot and smoke free.

When you don’t share a room: how to make it safer

There might be times when your baby needs to sleep in a separate room from you. For example, this might happen when your baby moves from a bassinet to a cot, and your room is too small for the cot.

If your baby sleeps in a separate room from you, make sure it’s a safe sleep environment, put your baby to sleep on their back, and check your baby regularly to ensure that your baby stays on their back and their head and face stay uncovered. For example, you could check your baby while you’re awake, when you go to bed and if you get up in the night.

Once your baby can roll easily onto their tummy and back again (at 4-6 months), they can move and protect their own airways if they’re in a safe sleep environment. But you should keep putting your baby to sleep on their back.

Don’t put your baby to sleep in bouncinettes, hammocks or bean bags or on sofas or pillows. And if your baby falls asleep in their child car seat or pram, take them out and put them in a safe sleep environment as soon as possible.

This article has been reviewed for quality and currency by qualified experts, including maternal and child health nurses, MCH Line, Department of Health, Victoria. Scientific Advisory Board review was provided by Dr Bronwyn Gould.

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