AAP-Sleep Position Guidelines Not Practiced at Childcare Centers

For Release: July 7, 1997
5 p.m. (ET)

Below is a highlight of a study published in the July issue of Pediatrics, the peer-reviewed, scientific journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Members of the media may obtain the full text of this study by e-mailing the AAP Division of Public Relations at [email protected] or calling the Division at 847-981-7877 and asking for C75-97. E-mail requests should include your name, media affiliation, phone and fax numbers or address.

MANY CHILD CARE CENTERS DONT PRACTICE SLEEP POSITION GUIDELINES

CHICAGO--A new study of child care centers found that staff members at many child care centers are unaware of the association between infant sleep position and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), and few centers have policies regarding sleep position. The new study published in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), was based on 131 child care centers caring for infants less than 6 months old in Washington, D.C., and Montgomery and Prince Georges Counties in Maryland. The researchers found that 49 percent of the centers placed infants to sleep on their stomach at least some of the time, and 20 percent positioned infants exclusively on their stomach. In 1992, the AAP recommended that infants be placed down to sleep on their side or back to reduce the risk of SIDS. The recommendation was recently updated to recommend infants be placed to sleep on their back only. The studys authors, from Childrens National Medical Center, Washington, D.C., discovered that 22 percent of child care centers said they placed an infant on its stomach for fear of choking. "Many child care centers aware of the SIDS risk succumbed to parental insistence that infants be placed in the manner they are accustomed to," the authors say. "This is clearly a difficult situation for child care centers, and some centers have attempted to resolve this with the use of written policies." The authors conclude that further efforts are needed to educate both parents and child care providers on the importance of proper infant sleep positioning.

EDITORS NOTE: This study was published in the peer-reviewed, scientific journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, but does not necessarily reflect the policies or opinions of the Academy. The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 53,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.