Researchers have found that parents are still putting babies in sleeping positions that might threaten their lives. The study showed parents also put dangerous objects in their children’s crib that might cause sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
The investigation was held by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), with the objective of determining whether parents put their youngsters to sleep in the correct forms, to avoid SIDS. Since 1992 the AAP has warned parents about sleeping positions, due to the high rates of SIDS and although those numbers have lowered it is still one of the leading causes of babies deaths.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), accidental children suffocation and strangulation numbers have increased in the last years and 2014, the statistics had a high peak.
The AAP’s research was based on night footage of Pennsylvania babies sleeping, the infant’s ages were three months, six months and one year respectively. The parents were, in the vast majority, married families with college educations and affluent.
Concerning results
Study authors note that although parents knew they were being recorded, they still put their children in wrong sleeping positions such as on their sides or stomach. Also, babies shared the bed with stuffed animals, baby bumpers, and positioners.
After analyzing the footage, researchers determined parents had their children sleeping in dangerous environments that augmented the risk of SIDS, especially those that slept with pillows, blankets, and loose beddings. The results showed that among the 160 one-month-old babies, 21 percent were sleeping on wrong surfaces, 91 percent shared the bed with pillows and stuffed animals, and 14 percent weren’t sleeping on their backs.
For the six-month-old babies, 93 percent of them had unsafe objects in the crib, 33 percent didn’t sleep on their back, and 12 percent were on slippery surfaces.
Another shocking factor for researchers was the fact that some parents moved their babies to their bed and shared the space with the youngsters. Putting their children’s are higher risks and in the wrong environment. The AAP notes that bed-sharing is one of the leading factors for SIDS due to accidental suffocation or rolling over.
“SIDS is not that rare; about 3,500 babies die of sudden unexplained infant deaths each year in the U.S,” noted the lead author of the study Dr. Ian Paul from Penn State College of Medicine in Pennsylvania.
The results of the study were shocking for most of the researchers in the investigation. Dr. Paul, in an interview with the NY Daily News, assures that these mistaken habits are due to misinformation that parents get from retailers and big business who sell baby products.
“Go into any Babies ‘R’ Us and you’ll see totally unsafe sleep environments with bumpers and sleep positioners, parents are getting mixed messages,” said Dr. Paul in the interview.
The AAP recommends all parents to put their babies on their backs when they sleep. The crib must be pillow and blanket-free without any object that might cause the children to suffocate accidentally. The study findings can be found in the AAP’s journal and newsfeed.
Source: Pediatrics