Bed sharing - what about the mattress firmness?

mrsdahamm

I have a 3w old and have shared our bed a few times on rough nights. I've tried to make it as safe as possible (no pillows or blankets near him, making sure he has space between him and DH who is a heavy sleeper). I keep hearing that babies should sleep on a firm mattress. Is this a SIDS risk? Or a developmental thing? We have a pillow top mattress, so I don't know if we need to reconsider or get some sort of addition?

TIA for any help.

Emerald27

Too soft a mattress is not a SIDS risk, but rather a suffocation risk.

Pillow top mattresses are OK if they're not too squishy. It's so hard to say because every mattress is different. How far do you sink into the mattress?

vvvvvfee

we have been bedsharing since DS was 6 weeks with a pillow top mattress. it's not super-squishy, though. as PP said, a very squishy pillow top is a suffocation risk, not a SIDS risk. make sure you are following the general guidelines for safe cosleeping. you will also probably want to set something up to make sure that your LO can't fall off the bed.

i always had my arm around DS, and he slept with his head on my shoulder. i kept him on the side of the bed away from my DH.