Many infants at risk in unsafe sleep settings, poll shows

The nearly two-decades-long national "back to sleep" campaign that promotes infant safe sleep is credited with reducing the rate of sudden infant death syndrome in the United States.

However, the rate of sudden unexpected infant deaths has continued to climb. SUIDs, as experts call these deaths, now claim the lives of 12 children per day in the United States.

In May 2011, the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health asked parents of children up to 3 years old about the sleep settings and positions for their children during infancy, and about their beliefs about safe sleep positions for infants. The study found that 89 percent of parents believe that placing an infant on his back in a crib is a safe sleep position. However, 40 percent of parents believe that it is safe for an infant to sleep in the same bed as another person. A similar proportion of parents report- about 40 percent - that they have fallen asleep with their infants.

“The recent rise in SUIDs led us to ask parents about their beliefs and practices, including habits such as falling asleep with infants and sharing the same bed,” says Lisa Markman, M.D., Assistant Professor at the U-M Medical School. “Our results confirm what we suspected: large subgroups of parents are placing infants in sleep positions that put them at risk for suffocation or smothering.”

According to Dr. Markman, the fact that so many parents are aware of the back-to-sleep message is a reassuring sign. “The success of the ‘back-to-sleep’ message is definitely encouraging,” says Dr. Markman. “We know that it is possible to get out messages about safe sleep on a national level. However, back-to-sleep is not the full message that health care providers must communicate to parents. Parents need to know that sharing the same sleep space and putting soft toys and blankets in cribs also puts infants at risk for suffocation .”

Tips for parents and other family members about infant sleep safety:
* Babies should always sleep in their own environment in a crib or bassinette with a firm mattress and tight fitting sheet.
* There should be nothing in a baby’s sleep environment other than the baby with a thin blanket or sleep sack.
* Caregivers should never fall asleep while holding their babies.