Sleeping position and airway
On the back, feet to foot, and why seats and slings need care.
The short version
- Put your baby on their back for every sleep, naps included, and everywhere, including at the childminder's.
- Your baby dozing on your chest while you are awake and watching them is fine, and good for both of you.
- Place your baby feet to foot: feet touching the bottom of the cot, blankets tucked in firmly. A sleeping bag needs no extra bedding.
- Avoid sleeping your baby in bouncy chairs, swings or beanbags, and take them out of the car seat on arrival onto a firm, flat surface.
- Once your baby can roll both ways by themselves, you can leave them to find their own position. Still start every sleep on their back.
The rest of this page explains where this comes from. You do not have to read it tonight.
About 3 minutes to read
Back to sleep
The Lullaby Trust's wording is plain: "Put your baby down on their back for every sleep. No special equipment or products are needed to keep them on their back." Nothing you have to buy makes this safer.
Sleeping a baby on their side or stomach increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and consistency matters: babies usually placed on their backs but sometimes on their fronts are at particularly high risk. So it is every sleep, naps included, and everywhere, including at the childminder's.
When your baby starts rolling
Once your baby can roll from back to front and front to back by themselves, the Lullaby Trust says "you can leave them to find their own sleep position." You still start every sleep by placing them on their back. Do not use rolled blankets, wedges or positioners to stop them rolling.
Sleeping on your chest is a different thing
The Lullaby Trust says a baby sleeping on a parent's chest "whilst parents are awake has not been shown to be a risk, and such close contact is in fact beneficial." The danger is a baby sleeping on their front unsupervised, which "gives rise to a greatly increased risk of SIDS."
So your baby dozing on your chest while you are awake and watching them is fine, and good for both of you. What matters is the plan for if you fall asleep, which is further down this page.
Feet to foot
NHS advice is to "always place your baby on their back to sleep in the feet-to-foot position." The Lullaby Trust defines it simply: "Place baby at the bottom of the cot so they can't wriggle under covers (this is called feet to foot)."
Their feet go right at the foot end, touching it, and blankets are tucked in firmly. Feet-to-foot is specifically about tucked blankets. If you use a baby sleeping bag, no extra bedding is needed and there is nothing to slide under.
Seats, slings and your baby's airway
A young baby's head is heavy and their neck is not strong. If their chin drops onto their chest, the Lullaby Trust says that position can "fold your baby's airway". This is why the advice is to avoid sleeping your baby in "anything that keeps your baby in a seated, or inclined, position, such as bouncy chairs, swings, hammocks and beanbags." If they fall asleep in one, move them onto a firm, flat surface.
- Car seats are for travelling. The Lullaby Trust says they are "not as an alternative to cots or high chairs", and UNICEF specifies up to two hours at a time. Take your baby out on arrival and put them on a firm, flat surface, even if that means waking them.
- Slings: the TICKS checklist. Tight. In view at all times. Close enough to kiss. Keep chin off the chest. Supported back.
Where this comes from
- The Lullaby Trust, Safer sleep for babies: a guide for parents and carers (last reviewed November 2024), for the four headline messages and the 81% fall in SIDS since 1991.
- The Lullaby Trust, safer sleep overview, for following the advice until 12 months, or 12 months from the due date for premature babies.
- The Lullaby Trust, sleeping position, for back sleeping and rolling.
- The Lullaby Trust, response on chest sleeping, for the supervised chest-sleeping distinction.
- NHS, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), for back sleeping and the feet-to-foot position.
- The Lullaby Trust, keeping a clear cot and mattresses and bedding, for what to take out, the three times risk from quilts, pillows and duvets, and second-hand mattresses.
- The Lullaby Trust, your baby's airway and car seats, for inclined positions and the two hour car seat limit.
- The Lullaby Trust, room temperature, for 16 to 20 degrees and checking the chest or back of the neck.
- The Lullaby Trust, room sharing, for the first six months.
- The Lullaby Trust, smoking, for smoking and the absence of vaping research.
- The Lullaby Trust, co-sleeping and alcohol, for when bed-sharing is dangerous, the safer bed-sharing steps and planning ahead.
- UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative, Co-sleeping and SIDS: A Guide for Health Professionals (last updated October 2019, using 2017 data), for the absolute risk figures, the sofa quotation and the harm-reduction argument.
- Blair et al., PLOS ONE, 2014, for the peer-reviewed odds ratios.
- The Lullaby Trust, survey of over 3,400 new parents, for the proportion who have fallen asleep on a sofa or armchair, and for the "up to 50 times" figure we have chosen not to present as a research finding.
- The Lullaby Trust, breastfeeding, dummies and swaddling, for the protective factors and the bottle feeding reassurance quoted in full.
- BASIS (Baby Sleep Information Source), sleep aids, for the McGarvey 2003 dummy finding and the Blair 2009 swaddling finding.
- The Lullaby Trust, premature babies, for avoiding co-sleeping until one year from the due date.
- The Lullaby Trust, other carers and babysitters, for "routine is key".
- The Lullaby Trust, what is SIDS, for 87% of deaths occurring at six months or under.
- UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative parent leaflet (2025 edition), for night feeding being normal and essential, responsive feeding, the TICKS sling checklist and "never shake a baby".
Last checked 1 August 2026. This page is general information, not medical advice. If you are worried about your child, speak to your health visitor or GP.