Photo: iStockphoto
According to a new article in Pediatrics, many parents still aren?t following safe sleep guidelines with their babies?even though those guidelines have been shown to help prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS. Researchers at Penn State University set up video cameras with 160 families in central Pennsylvania and recorded their babies throughout the night at one month, three months and six months of age. The study was originally designed to look at where infants are put to sleep, how often their mothers picked them up, and the effects that had on mothers? mental health and their marital relationships. But once the researchers started watching the night-vision videos they?d gathered, they noticed widespread unsafe behaviours, like putting infants to sleep with loose blankets, crib bumpers, pillows, sleep positioners and stuffed animals in the crib or bassinet; babies being placed on their sides and stomach instead of on their backs; and infants who were moved after a wakeup and ended up in a swing, car seat, or bed-sharing with a parent. The proportion of parents allowing bumpers, blankets, pillows, and stuffies in the crib or bed was particularly alarming across all three age groups: 91 per cent of parents of one-month-olds, 87 per cent of the three-month-olds, and 93 per cent of the six-month-olds were sleeping with these non-approved, dangerous items. We spoke with paediatrician Ian Paul, one of the study co-authors, about his findings.
What was...