If you are a cosleeping mom, what do you do to make sure that you don't smother your baby? I'm asking because in my city, there have been five co-sleeping deaths in less than two months.

I coslept. I was single, so I was the only one in the bed. I had no blankets on her side of the bed, no pillows, and I was a light sleeper so I woke whenever she moved. Also I NEVER took any medications, alcohol, etc. while she was in my bed. With my next I will use an Arm's Reach Cosleeper because my hubby will be in the bed, and I feel it will be too crowded to be safe.

Well if you are the deep sleep type, co-sleeping isn't for you. We have co-slept with our son since he was 3.5 mos old and he is now 8 mos. I get a little corner of the bed and him and my husband get the rest! We sleep a little lower on the bed and put him all the way at the top by the head board. We do not cover him up, we just make sure his pjs keep him warm. So we are able to pull our covers up to our necks if we wanted to and it would only maybe touch his feet, if even that. There are several studies that show co-sleeping, if done right can be beneficial and actually prevent sids. Good luck!

I started off by sleeping on my back (I don't sleep as deep in that position.. if I ever could reach a deep sleep that is) with him tucked in between my body and arm with his head/upper body on my shoulder.

now we just sleep where ever, how ever since he is a big boy (18 months and almost 3 feet tall!)

I tried it and I just didn't feel right about the baby in the bed. We had a lot of infant deaths from co sleeping when I was having my kids so I was super paranoid. I did however keep each baby in my room until they were a little bigger. I still like having my space when having all the kids I have!

Cosleeping deaths only occur when someone is drunk or on drugs. I'm sorry, babies wiggle and scream. There is no way someone can "accidently" roll over on their baby and stay more than a second.

When he was a newborn I had a cot mattress so he was slightly above me in the bed with me. He was on one of the edges. He was put in a growbag and also had a blanket sometimes

When he started to get older he just was in bed with us..still having his own blanket (no growbag as he kicks covers off and would hate it).

When co-sleeping is done with safety precautions taken, it is safer than leaving your baby in another room in a crib. It also helps to prevent SIDS. Any deaths from co-sleeping happened because the parents were careless enough to not follow co-sleeping "rules", which can easily be accessed via internet, a call to the doctor, or a trip to the library.

Like other posters, I never drank or took any medications when my son was in my bed. Also, I know that I wake up every time I want to change positions, so there's no chance of me accidentally rolling over - I just don't move unless I wake up first. Before my son was born, I was my mom's caretaker and could hear her stop breathing through the wall (she had sleep apnea), so I know that I was prepared to listen for every nuance of my son when in my bed. When done safely, it's extremely safe and much better than putting infants "in their own space" when their bodies are biologically primed to attune themselves to their mother's body. I know that whenever my son's breathing caught, I just took a deep breath and he immediately followed suit - so I know that his body was listening to mine!

Anon is right: cosleeping deaths happen when the parent goes to bed drunk or high. There have been no instances of smothering when a parent is consciously taking their child to bed; all the cases have been when the parent is impaired somehow. We've been cosleeping for almost 2 years now, with both kids, and I've become an extremely light sleeper. SIDS=crib death. It is far safer to consciously take your child to bed than to put them in an empty crib.

We co sleep. I don't do it if I had any drinks (a very rare thing anyway) or if I've taken a drowsy medication. We don't have tons of blankets and pillows around the baby and I don't let him sleep by the edge of the bed. When done correctly and safely, it is the safest way to sleep a baby.