Sleep Behaviors of Infants and Young Children

Abstract

Accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed is a leading cause of preventable infant death. Bed sharing, teen motherhood, and Hispanic ethnicity have been associated with infant sleep suffocation death. Fifty-five Hispanic teen mothers were surveyed regarding acculturation/demographic characteristics and their infants' sleep behaviors. Most participants had 2 foreign-born parents from Latin America. Participants with 2 US-born parents were less likely to bed share than their less-acculturated peers. Many participants reported not always placing their infant in a supine sleep position. There is a significant need to reach out to Hispanic teen mothers, particularly from newer immigrant families, with culturally and linguistically appropriate multigenerational clinical messaging on the risks of infant bed sharing and nonsupine sleep positioning.