Washington, Dec 9 (IANS) Placing infants on their backs for sleep can help reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). But a study suggests that parents are becoming increasingly oblivious about protecting their babies from the syndrome, a study suggests.
The study by Yale School of Medicine (YSM) researchers shows that while the practice of placing infants on their backs helped reduce the incidence of SIDS, it has plateaued since guidelines were released by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

The study is based on data from the National Infant Sleep Position Study, an annual phone survey of about 1,000 households with infants.

The team tracked behaviour change after the “Back to Sleep” campaign was initiated in 1994 and tracked infant care practices related to SIDS.

“We looked at the behaviour of 15,000 caregivers over the last 15 years and found that, although there was an increase in caregivers… the number of people putting babies on their back to sleep (over the last five years) has levelled off,” said Eve Colson, who led the study.

Colson, associate professor of paediatrics at YSM and her team also identified three key factors linked to whether caregivers place infants on their backs to sleep.

These were : whether the caregiver received a physician’s recommendation to place the baby only on the back for sleep, fear that the infant might choke and concerns for the infant’s comfort.

In fact, said Colson, in the past five years, these factors have become even more important than race in determining whether parents will follow the recommended guidelines.

“If we can teach people that comfort and choking are not issues and if we can make sure that doctors advise their patients that the back is the only safe position for infant sleep, then we may be able to overcome this levelling-off of the practice that we have seen over the last five years,” she said.

“For the first time, we have identified modifiable factors - comfort, choking and advice - that can be used in public health campaigns to decrease the incidence of SIDS and possibly to bridge the racial gap,” said Colson.

These findings were published in the December issue of the Archives of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.