World Day

Babies, safe sleep for health protection: the vademecum for balanced growth

Good, evidence-based practices enable families and professionals to share the same principles of prevention, contributing together to reducing risks and building a healthier future for each child

by Massimo Agosti *, Luana Nosetti **

14 March 2026

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

'Sleep Well, Live Better': World Sleep Day on 13 March reminded us that sleeping well is the basis of a better life. And this is even more true for newborns: guaranteeing them a safe and quality sleep means investing in their future, in their health and in their well-being tomorrow.
As the Italian Society of Neonatology (Sin), we renew our commitment to promoting and disseminating advice on safe sleep. Safe sleep is not only a matter of the home environment: it is a responsibility that begins in the hospital, even in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs), where every day we work to ensure that newborns have rest conditions that favour safety, comfort and development.

Good Practices

Sin strongly supports the dissemination of evidence-based practices so that families and professionals share the same principles of prevention, contributing together to reducing risks and building a healthier future for every child.

Sleep is a fundamental biological need for the newborn baby that is too often underestimated and interrupted. In the newborn baby, sleep is not just rest: it is a real active development process. During sleep, neuronal connections are consolidated, metabolism, growth and stress response are regulated. In the first few months of life, infants spend up to 70-80% of their time sleeping, testifying to how central sleep is to their neurological development.

The protection of premature babies

Sleep protection therefore starts already in the hospital and especially in the neonatal intensive care unit, where premature or fragile in-patients are often woken up by environmental noise and the medical procedures, monitoring and therapies they undergo, to support and help them in their care and growth.

Sin promotes and supports, therefore, in all NICUs, sleep-protection-oriented care strategies that aim to reduce ambient lights and noises, bundle care procedures into fewer interventions to avoid repeated awakenings, encourage restraining positioning and postural comfort of the newborn, and promote skin-to-skin contact (kangaroo care) with parents.

The vademecum at home

Even at home, certain behaviours can promote physiological and safe sleep in newborns: recognising and respecting sleep signals, maintaining simple and repetitive routines, providing a quiet environment with moderate stimuli, encouraging closeness and emotional regulation through the presence of the caregiver.

Following all the advice and indications to ensure safe sleep for your newborn baby is also essential to significantly reduce the risk of Sids (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or cot death syndrome), an event that is fortunately rare, but remains the main cause of mortality in the first year of life, after the neonatal period. In Italia, the rate of Sids cases has been reduced to around 0.5 per thousand live births, and is falling thanks to prevention campaigns, but we must continue to inform parents of the most important precautions to take.

As Sin we reiterate some basic rules for safe sleep of the newborn baby, in particular: starting breastfeeding; supine position (on the back) for each sleep; firm, flat, non-tilted sleeping surface; no soft objects or accessories in the bed; room sharing yes, bed no; avoid smoking, alcohol and drugs; ensure adequate temperature; cradle mattress certified to CE standards; supervision when the baby sleeps in devices not designed for sleeping; use of soother; vaccinations according to the National Plan.

Every newborn baby deserves protected, quality sleep, an essential element in fostering optimal neurological and emotional development and accompanying him or her towards a safer, more balanced and healthy growth path.

* President of the Italian Society of Neonatology - Sin
** Head of the Centre for Respiratory Sleep Disorders and Sids, Paediatric Clinic University of Insubria Hospital Filippo del Ponte of Varese