Recently a study was released that makes it sound like the family bed is an unsafe sleeping arrangement for babies.  This American study recommends that the practice of co-sleeping be discouraged.  With all due respect, I must say that such a recommendation is unnecessary and, more than anything else, reflects American cultural practices and biases.  In the rest of the world and throughout history, parents do sleep and have slept with their babies safely alongside them.  It is mainly in the United States where the norm is isolation of babies in cribs, from birth on.

The family bed is certainly a viable option, so long as you use common sense in implementing it.  Here are some helpful tips that have worked for our family and for many others.  Many of these were gleaned from excellent books such as The Baby Book by Bill and Martha Sears;  others we discovered ourselves.

1.  Use a firm mattress or hard (as in old, matted-down, no longer cushiony) futon.  No waterbeds!

2.  Avoid using thick comforters or fluffy pillows.  For colder nights, just dress baby in a warm footed sleeper and omit any bedcoverings (for baby).  My babies all disliked blankets anyway;  as soon as they were able to, they would always kick them off!  So, if it's a warm-ish night, don't even bother with blankets for your baby.  If your baby seems chilled and he doesn't mind it, you might put a thermal baby blanket or a receiving blanket on him (up to about tummy level), but use the "grownup" sheets and blankets for yourself.  Put away your bed's fluffy down pillows and comforters... save them for when baby is older and no longer sharing sleep with you.  

3.  Do not sleep with your baby if you have any physical or mental condition that could potentially pose harm to baby in bed.  Examples (hypothetical, not sure if these are viable): your arm is in a cast; if you were to sleep with baby, there might be a risk of clonking baby in the head by accident! -- or, you have a seizure disorder and are worried about injuring baby should you have a seizure in your sleep.  And so on.   If these are bad examples, my apologies!  Maybe you can suggest better ones!  ;-)

4.  Do not sleep with baby if you have been drinking alcoholic beverages or are on any medication that makes you less alert.   Ahem - if you are nursing, you shouldn't be drinking alcohol or taking such medications anyway!  They will affect your milk!  :-b

5.  (Nursing) mother, sleep facing your baby.  This will enhance your sleeping awareness of baby's presence.  It will also make breastfeeding more convenient when the still-asleep baby starts to get hungry and restless. 

6.  Have baby sleep between mom and a protective guardrail such as you would install on a toddler's bed.  It is best not to have a small baby sleep next to dad, because sleeping fathers tend to be less aware of their babies then are sleeping, nursing mothers. 

7.  In the same vein, do not allow your older children to sleep in the family bed with your newborn or small baby.  They, too, lack the awareness of baby that mother has.  Studies have shown that the nursing mother whose sleep cycles have come to coincide with baby's, will have a good sleeping intuition of baby's presence beside her.  Other family members do not have that same attunement to baby, and so they are at heightened risk for accidentally rolling onto or otherwise squishing baby.

8.  Rather than have baby right next to you in your bed, you could have baby in his or her own bassinet beside your bed.  When s/he gets bigger, you could switch to the sidecar arrangement.  This involves placing a crib right next to mother's side of the bed, with the sliding side removed and the resulting open side facing your bed.  The wheels or casters must be removed from the crib's legs, and the crib mattress must be level with and tightly against your mattress.  With the sidecar arrangement, baby is still easily accessible to you, yet is in his own "space".  This could also serve as a gentle first step for weaning him out of your bed and into his or her own crib.  However, the sidecar arrangement does have a few drawbacks, which is why we ourselves have never used it.  Changing the crib and bed sheets is a bit more inconvenient (but not too bad) with this setup.  Also, a wide-open crib is not a safe place to leave a napping baby, even if the crib is flush next to the parents' bed.

This raises the issue of where baby will sleep during the day, when you are up and about.  There are several safe options.  If you are physically able to carry the baby in a sling and baby doesn't mind it, this can be an ideal solution.  Baby remains with you in the sling, and if he needs to nurse, he can do so while still being "slung".  Or you can do what we have often done, and use your infant carseat or car bed as a portable "nest" for your small baby.  (To be perfectly safe, baby should be strapped in, especially if you are carrying him from one room to another.)  If the carseat's underside is shaped so that you can rock it like a little cradle, so much the better.  Of course, you would keep the carseat on the floor, and never put it up on a bed or table.

When baby gets larger and is rolling and creeping, a separate crib (perhaps still in your room) is, in my opinion, the best and safest option.  Tips for crib safety may be found here. I would add to those safety tips that if you don't want your baby to breathe chemical fumes such as those offgassed by conventional crib mattresses, you might consider investing in an organic cotton and wool, innerspring mattress such as those sold by Ecobaby.  It fits snugly into a conventional- size crib and will serve baby through about age 5.  This is the mattress we have in our toddler's crib, which can be converted to a daybed when he is older.  The mattress is firm yet comfortable, and the wool layer helps keep his bed warmer in the winter, cooler in the summer.  

I know that there are additional ways to "do" family bed and to create safe napping places for babies;  for the most part, this list includes only things that our family has tried.  If you have found other safe sleeping solutions for baby and would like me to post them here, please let me know.  I will be sure to credit your ideas by posting your name, unless you indicate otherwise. 

For lots of good tips and insights on creating the safest sleeping environment for the family-bedded baby, see Jeri Carr's Is the Family Bed Dangerous?  This is a must-read if you are considering "doing" family bed!