Supine infant sleep: what do family physicians recommend?

Abstract

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) kills more than 6000 infants annually in the United States. Researchers have described prone sleep position as a risk factor for SIDS. A greater than 50 percent reduction in SIDS has been reported in countries where the predominant sleep position changed from prone to supine. In 1992 the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended that healthy infants be placed in a supine position at bedtime. Previous studies of pediatric practices reported a 60 percent compliance with the recommendation. This study describes the self-reported compliance with the AAP recommendation by a cohort of family physicians. Three hundred members of the Uniformed Services Academy of Family Physicians were mailed a questionnaire about their recommendations regarding infant sleep position. The response rate was 77 percent. Sixty-two percent of the respondents usually or always encourage supine sleep position. Twenty-one percent usually or always discourage the supine sleep position. This cohort of family physicians encourages the supine sleep position at rates similar to reported cohorts of pediatricians. Reasons for the limited endorsement of the AAP recommendation were not explained by the results of this study.