A majority of those deaths are labeled as SIDS – a phenomenon that researchers still don’t completely understand.
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And, anywhere from 14 percent to one-third of babies were placed on their bellies or sides to sleep, rather than on their backs.
It’s a very common problem here in Milwaukee, babies not being properly put to sleep with tragic consequences.
“SIDS is not that rare; about 3,500 babies die of sudden unexplained infant deaths each year in the U.S.”, said senior study author Dr. Ian Paul of Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Over 160 infants were recorded sleeping at one, three and six months, though some parents opted out before finishing the 6-month mark, USA Today reports.
The researchers also found that parents would put the babies on their sides or stomachs, or practice “co-sleeping” – the act of sharing the bed with their infants. Their sleep environment should be a firm crib mattress free of loose bedding and soft objects, and they should not share a bed with anyone.
Among the babies recorded, 21% of one-month-old infants were put to sleep on unsafe surfaces, and a whopping 91% used items considered risky, such as stuffed animals, pillows, bumper pads, sleep positioners and such. For decades, doctors and experts alike have recommended new parents to place their babies to sleep on their backs, keep soft bedding and other extraneous items out of the crib, and take other “safe sleep” measures.
The study also strongly warned against bringing an infant into his or her parent’s bed.
Paul says there could be any number of reasons for this. Such deaths include sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed.
Another thing could be marketing.
New research finds some parents may be unwittingly putting their babies at an increased of death. But there are many confusing messages that it’s easy for parents to get lost in the mix.
“We are getting the word out but people aren’t acting on that”, said Catherine Spong, acting director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, which launched the Safe to Sleep campaign in 1994.
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“If the baby wakes up in the night – which of course most do – and can’t be settled back to sleep in the same position or location, then parents tend to do what works to get them back to sleep especially if a crying baby risks waking everyone else in the household”, Ball, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email. “We need to be extremely clear and unambiguous in our advice and we need to make sure we model safe sleep environment when babies are in the hospital”, he says.
