It makes for a beautiful photo, but healthcare professionals are cautioning against falling asleep with a baby on your chest.
A new report by Essential Baby details the popularity of the cuter-than-cute photo opp, along with its inherent risks.
“We seem to swoon at the bare-chested dad with the gorgeous newborn asleep on the chest like David Beckham, Robbie Williams,” midwife Amanda Bude from Groovy Babies tells Essential Baby.
RELATED: Mother Dies After Second Baby Dies From Co-Sleeping
But, she warns, this “accidental sleeping” (aka “reactive co-sleeping) comes with risk of the baby either falling, suffocating or becoming trapped.
Red Nose also warns against sleeping on a couch with your baby – something that all exhausted parents know can easily happen unintentionally.
They say if you choose to soothe your baby to sleep by placing them on your chest, you should always have an observer in the room with you.
