New Sleep Recommendations for Your Baby

One of the greatest fears a new parent can have is worrying about SIDS. SIDS stands for “sudden infant death syndrome” or “crib death”. From 1992 to 2001, the SIDS rate in the United States has fallen over 50%. The reason for this drastic decline has been attributed to the “Back to Sleep Campaign”. This refers to putting infants to sleep on their backs as opposed to on their stomachs which was the norm many years ago.

The Task Force on SIDS has recently revised their guidelines for SIDS prevention. They have reemphasized the importance of back sleeping position, a firm sleep surface, no pillows or comforters, smoking avoidance and prevention of overheating. Other known risk factors for SIDS include: late or no prenatal care, young maternal age, preterm or low birth weight infants, and male gender. Also higher rates of SIDS have been found among certain populations including black and American Indian/Alaska Native children.

New recommendations include having the infant sleep in a separate but proximate sleeping environment such as a crib or bassinet in the parents' bedroom. Bed sharing during sleep is not recommended. Also side sleeping is no longer an acceptable alternative to back sleeping. Infants should be placed on their back every time they are put down to sleep. Another change to the policy is to offer a pacifier at nap time and bedtime as the infant falls to sleep (pacifiers should not be introduced to breastfeeding babies until they are a month of age). If the infant refuses the pacifier, it should not be forced. Pacifiers had been previously discouraged based on the belief that they may serve as deterrent to breastfeeding and may slightly increase the risk of ear infections. The Policy also discourages the use of commercial devices marketed to reduce the risk of SIDS as none have been tested sufficiently to show efficacy or safety. They also recommend not using home monitors as a strategy to reduce the risk of SIDS. There has been no evidence to show that use of home monitors decreases the risk of SIDS.

In summary, our success against SIDS has been tremendous.