Health & Baby

Not All Parents Put Babies to Sleep on Back

Babies Who Sleep on Their Backs

The study revealed that babies were more likely to be put to sleep on their backs if:

• They were the first-born child
• They were not premature
• Their mothers did not live in the Southern U.S.
• Their mothers had a higher education level
• Their mothers were not African-American

The researchers urge all health care providers to make sure caregivers are told that it's safest to place infants to sleep exclusively on their backs, and that concerns about choking and discomfort are discussed. Doing so, they say, will help reduce the overall SIDS death rate.

"We can't equivocate, or the message gets lost," says Colson. "And we need to serve as role models, placing infants to sleep on their backs, beginning the minute infants are born in our hospital nurseries and pediatric units."

The findings appear in the December issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.