Ruthy,
        We had an unexplained neonatal death about a year ago - baby was
tucked in for the night with mom.  Mom rang call bell to say she
couldn't wake baby up :(  Needless to say this shook up my hospital
badly.  Our wet-behind-the-ears ped wanted us to make a policy against
cosleeping in the hosp (he routinely includes this in his dc teaching
arghhh).  I wore him down to me discussing with the staff who could
(almost everybody) and who shouldn't.  Moms who shouldn't include:
groggy, immediate postop, those taking sleeping pills (I can't seem to
convince md's that this is stupid), and extremely overweight moms (our
beds are standard hosp beds - narrower than a twin bed).

I have been casually encouraging cosleeping since I got there along with
a couple of other nurses.  We all thought it an insult to need a policy
on a common sense issue.  BUT common sense isn't always a job
requirement so now I make sure to discuss the issue with new staff
members to make sure they are on the same wavelength.

Put pillow against side rail to plug up holes, have mom scoot over so
baby has room, take baby blankets OFF baby, show them how to nurse
sidelying, put bulb syringe, call bell and light in easy reach.  Also
show mom how to burp baby using her hip.

My philosophy on this is that we should be teaching safety because they
will do it at home whether we want them to or not.  The ped thought this
was brilliant hahahaha.

p.s.  The baby didn't die from cosleeping - he had ammonia levels of
2500.  No one knows why.

Debbie Codding, RN, BSN
Oak Harbor, WA