Babies often put to sleep in unsafe positions

(upi.com) - Despite decades of warnings from the "Back to Sleep" campaign, many parents are still putting their babies to sleep in ways that raise the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), a new study finds.

Each year in the United States, about 3,500 infants die suddenly, from no obvious cause, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A majority of those deaths are labeled as SIDS -- a phenomenon that researchers still don't completely understand.

One thing that's clear is that an infant's sleeping environment is key. Since the 1990s, doctors and public health experts have encouraged parents to put infants to sleep on their backs, keep soft bedding out of the crib, and take other "safe sleep" measures.

The new study, published Aug. 15 in Pediatrics, suggests that the message is not getting through.

"What we found was disturbing," said senior researcher Dr. Ian Paul, a professor of pediatrics at Penn State College of Medicine, in Hershey, Penn.

Unlike past studies that have relied on surveying parents, this one used video cameras to record what parents were really doing at home. (The videos were taken with the parents' knowledge.)

It turned out that nearly all parents put their babies to sleep with items in the crib that can raise the odds of SIDS -- including pillows, loose bedding, and "bumper pads."

And, anywhere from 14 percent to one-third of babies were placed on their bellies or sides to sleep, rather than on their backs.

Paul said there could be a number of explanations.

"One could be parents' lack of knowledge," he said. "One could be parents thinking this [SIDS] won't happen to them. And then there's the fact that parents of young infants are exhausted."

That is, parents who just want their baby to be comfortable, and for everyone to get some sleep, may put them in risky positions -- such as in the bed with them. (FullText)