KDHE Home - News 2000 - News Release
Kansas
Department of Health & Environment
Bill Graves, Governor
Clyde D. Graeber, Secretary
For Immediate Release
December 29, 2000
Contact: Mike Heideman, 785-296-5795
SIDS Study Yields New Information
A recent study published in the journal Pediatrics (from the American Academy of Pediatrics) indicates that changing an infant from a back sleeping to a stomach sleeping position even once can increase the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
"It's always best to place babies on their backs for sleeping until they are able to change position on their own," says Rita Davenport, perinatal program consultant with the KDHE Children and Families Section. "Parents should make a point to remind babysitters and daycare providers never to place infants on their stomachs to sleep."
SIDS is the sudden, unexplained death of an infant under one year of age who does not awaken from a "profound or deep sleep." It is the leading cause of death in babies from one month to one year of age. In Kansas, 44 infants died of SIDS in 1999. SIDS is not contagious, nor is it caused by immunization or by child abuse.
While it has been recognized that babies who sleep on their stomachs are at significantly higher risk for SIDS, the study provides the first evidence that the risk is even higher in infants accustomed to sleeping on their backs who are then changed to a stomach sleeping position.
The infants identified in the study as having died from SIDS were back sleepers who were placed on their stomachs to sleep by their parents or secondary caregivers such as daycare providers. Reasons cited by parents for changing an infant's sleep position were that the baby was crying, irritable, sleeping poorly or regurgitating. The main reason given by secondary caregivers was that they had always placed other infants in the stomach sleeping position and that they believed infants slept better in that position.
Contact your pediatrician for more information on SIDS, or call the national Back to Sleep Campaign at 1-800-505-2742 and ask for a copy of the brochure Back to Sleep - Reduce the Risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
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