There are new sleep guidelines that have been issued by the American Acacemy of Pediatrics, AAP for short. They stress that you need to make sure your infants are sleeping on a flat surface on their bag.
Do not co-sleep with your infant, and do not use soft bedding as this will increase your infant’s risk of SIDS.
What is SIDS?
SIDS is Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and it is the leading cause of death for infants between 1 month and 1 year old. There are many things you can do to reduce your infant’s risk of SIDS, and one of those is to make sure they are sleeping on a flat surface.
The AAP recommends that you use a firm mattress, and that you do not use any soft bedding. This includes pillows, quilts, comforters, or sheepskins. You also want to make sure that your infant’s head is not covered by blankets, and that they are not sleeping on their stomach.
You should also avoid using any kind of inclined sleep product, such as a swing, bouncer, car seat, or infant positioner. These products can increase your infant’s risk of SIDS.
Another recommendation from AAP is that mothers opt to breastfeed instead of formula feed and to keep an eye on their baby. Do not rely on alert systems like some of the home baby monitors that say they alert for SIDS, as they’re not 100% reliable.
According to the AAP, roughly 3,500 newborns die from sleep-related infant deaths in the United States each year. These fatalities can occur when an infant who is at risk of SIDS is placed in an unsafe sleeping environment. Since 2000, the number of deaths has remained unchanged, following a reduction in fatalities during the 1990s as a result of the “Back to Sleep” campaign, which encouraged parents to put babies to sleep on their backs.
The AAP, nevertheless, found that racial and ethnic disparities persist. In fact, between 2010 and 2013, the rate of Sudden Unintended Infant Deaths (SUIDs) among Black and American Indian/Alaska Native infants was almost double and more than triple that of white babies (65 per 100,000 live births), according to the group’s new policy statement.
The AAP’s updated recommendations are based on a comprehensive review of the latest scientific evidence, which was conducted by an expert task force. The goal is to reduce disparities and prevent as many infant deaths as possible.