Improvements in Infant Sleep Position: We Can Do Better!

Abstract

* Abbreviations: AAP — : American Academy of Pediatrics SIDS — : sudden infant death syndrome SUID — : sudden unexpected infant death On the basis of the New Zealand Cot Study and European data, in 1992 the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended that infants no longer sleep in the prone position.1 By 1994, the National Institutes of Health, with other stakeholders, introduced the Back to Sleep campaign. Over the next 10 years, the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) rate in the United States fell 53%, correlating with an increase in exclusive supine sleep from <10% to 78%.2 The AAP considers this 1 of the 7 great achievements in pediatric research in the last 40 years.3 But since 2002, the story has become more complicated. The AAP recommendations evolved to back is better than side and then back only in 2005. Other risk factors emerged, such as soft bedding and bed-sharing, and the education campaign became Safe to Sleep in 2012.4 And although the incidence of SIDS continued to decline, other deaths (including accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed and undetermined deaths) began to increase, suggesting a possible “diagnostic coding shift.”5 These sleep-related deaths became … Address correspondence to Michael Goodstein, MD, Office of Newborn Medicine, York Hospital, 1001 S. George St, York, PA 17403. E-mail: mgoodstein{at}wellspan.org