Question: Grandma feels that a sarong will help my newborn sleep longer, but I’m worried it’ll affect his spine. Who’s right?

Answer: I’d say the more important question, by far, to ask is: Is it safe? And the answer is a resounding “no”.

Hospitals’ Accident and Emergency departments see countless cases of babies tumbling out of sarongs onto hard marble floors and sustaining serious head injuries. This is a terribly unsafe practice that needs to be discontinued.

Please buy a safe cot instead, and help him develop correct sleeping practices from Day One. Newborns who settle down in their own bed develop fewer negative sleep associations that are hard to break later on.