THE IMPACT OF THE BACK TO SLEEP CAMPAIGN ON GROSS MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Purpose: Historically, parents were advised to place their infants in the prone position to sleep. As a result, infants were provided with an opportunity to develop the musculature necessary for gross motor skills such as crawling and creeping. Since the initiation of the Back to Sleep campaign, these skills appear to be developing later during the first year of life. Whether or not this apparent delay in development has a long-term impact has yet to be determined. The purposes of this project were: 1) to examine, through a comprehensive review of the literature, if the Back to Sleep campaign has a negative impact on gross motor development, and 2) to apply the results of the review to physical therapy clinical practice. Description: A search for literature on the Back to Sleep campaign and its impact was performed from January 2004 to June 2004. The review was performed using the following databases: Cinahl, Ovid, Medline, and Pubmed. Keywords used in these searches were motor development, Back to Sleep, infants, SIDS, prone position, supine position, and motor milestones. Studies were reviewed if they examined development in infants sleeping supine. Based on the results of the studies examined, the physical therapists role in the Back to Sleep campaign was determined. Summary Of Use: Based on this review of the literature, placing infants supine to sleep appeared to result in a delay in the development of gross motor skills that are typically acquired in the prone position during the first year of life. Gross motor milestones such as rolling, crawling, creeping, and pulling to stand all appeared to be delayed in comparison to infants who slept prone. However, although seemingly delayed in some gross motor milestones, infants who slept supine attained walking in a similar time frame as their prone sleeping peers in most instances. The delays found in the studies examined appeared to be related to a lack of prone playtime. Importance To Members: Based on available evidence reviewed, the physical therapists role in the Back to Sleep campaign should involve promotion of the prone position during supervised playtime to decrease the incidence of delayed motor milestone achievement.