Back to Sleep Campaign: A Poll
January 5, 2009 by Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor
Filed under breastfeeding, poll, sleep
Breastfeeding your baby is one key way to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), also called crib death or cot death. In fact, a 2008 meta-analysis of 27 studies showed that babies who were breastfed, even partially breastfed, were one-third less likely to die of SIDS than babies who were never breastfed.
Back to Sleep
Over 13 years ago the American Academy of Pediatrics issued its first policy statement on reducing the risk of SIDS and recommended that all healthy babies be placed to sleep on their backs. Soon thereafter the “Back to Sleep Campaign” began. In the time since, the SIDS rate has fallen over 50 percent.
The following poll lets you vote anonymously so we can get an idea of whether parents are following the recommendation to put their babies “back to sleep.” A few thoughts: (1) answer for your latest baby (for example, if you placed your first child on her tummy to sleep, but placed your latest newborn on his back, answer “back”); (2) answer for when your baby was a newborn (for purposes of this poll, define that as 0-6 months) and if at any time during that first six months you switched to placing on baby’s “side” or “tummy” then answer “side” or “tummy” respectively; (3) answer for how you placed your baby (so, answer “back” if you put your baby down on his back, even if he rolled onto his tummy). Feel free to leave a comment to explain your vote.
Use of a Fan
There are lots of other things that can reduce the risk of SIDS, but I want to highlight one relatively new discovery. A recent study published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine showed that use of a fan to ventilate the room where baby sleeps can reduce the risk of SIDS by 72%! The risk reduction associated with fan use was greater for infants placed in the prone (face-down, tummy position) or side position versus the supine (back) position (which I take to mean, it’s still a good idea to place your baby on his back, but if you are going to place him on his side or tummy, it’s even more helpful to use a fan).
Comments
How do you place your baby to sleep? What do you do to reduce your baby’s risk of SIDS?
I didn’t vote, because at some point during the first six months, we did all of those. My son was a tummy sleeper, co-slept sideways and on his back often, and never was one or the other consistent over any of the rest. :-/
We always put our son to sleep on his back, but by 3 months he could roll over and would sleep on his side or his stomach. We always had a fan going in the room. My husband is always hot and the room would be freezing. My son would wake up to nurse and he would be an ice cube! To this day he prefers to be cold, refusing all blankets and never wanted to be swaddled. Strange huh?
I voted “back,” but we coslept on and off. Sometimes she did sleep on her tummy, too, because she was less likely to wake up when we put her down in that position. We normally watched to be sure she wasn’t right on her face.
I live in South Carolina and have been so ticked off about those stupid ABC’s of safe sleep brochures they give out. They mention NOTHING about BREASTFEEDING, which may be the very best way to prevent SIDS! I suppose it’s because they’d hate to make some poor mom who just wanted her boobs to stay perky feel guilty for deciding not to breastfeed. Bah. I guess I’m a little cynical.
I voted tummy because my little girl hated being on her back sleeping. She would do that startle response and then wake up screaming. We were co-sleeping so I decided it would be best if she slept in whatever way was comfortable and got her to sleep. I figured we were breastfeeding, and both light sleepers so we’d be able to hear her if she was in distress. I held her for her naps, so that wasn’t an issue. I know it was risky at some level.
Maria, go ahead and vote “tummy” if you like. Perhaps I should have phrased the poll “Did you always put your baby to sleep on his back? Yes or no.” Would’ve been more clear
and that’s really what I am wondering — how many people are following the “back to sleep” recommendation 100 percent of the time and how many people are like the commenters here who’ve said they mix it up and do what helps the baby sleep best, in spite of the risk of SIDS.
Thanks for the comments so far everyone!!
OK. I went back and voted. Honestly, I’m not sure I did it in spite of the risk of sids though, considering we were also breastfeeding and part-time co-sleeping, never used a pacifier, kept the room cool, didn’t use blankets (or even a swaddle– he HATED them), and my son could hold his head (flip his head side to side) at a very young age.
Anyway…
On the way to work I was thinking though– if a fan with a stomach sleeper experienced the largest reduction (presumably greater than 72%, because back sleepers would have pulled the %age down?) and back to sleep has reduced 50%, how much exactly was associated with stomach sleeping? Correct me if I am wrong, but the AOR is 0.14 for prone or side sleep, which is an 86% reduction– far more than the 50% by back sleeping (presumably without fan?). I guess I don’t know enough about the back to sleep statistic or other factors involved in either study to make a relevant direct comparison, but it does raise my eyebrows.
Thanks Maria!
I don’t mean to comment one way or the other on what parents are doing and whether something is risky or not. In fact I want to recognize what I think is “secretly” happening, that a lot of parents are looking at their sleeping arrangements and doing what they can to maximize safety and sleep, period.
Pacifier use is generally thought to lower SIDS risk.
I don’t understand how all the statistics break down. The 50% figure does not take into account whether or not a fan was used. I’m sure some people used a fan and some didn’t. My impression for the fan study, though, is that use of a fan for tummy sleepers helped more because tummy sleepers were at greater risk of SIDS, whereas use of a fan for back sleepers helped a little less because they were already at lower risk. I’m not sure I have enough brain power to dig further than that into it right now
For some reason I thought the paci increased the risk… wasn’t thinking straight apparently. LOL!
I have read that pacis decrease the risk of SIDS, but if you’re breastfeeding on demand, doesn’t that provide the same risk reduction (if not better risk reduction) than a pacifier? My son never had a pacifier. He had the real thing whenever he wanted it.
Well, I did a lot of things “wrong” when it came to sleep with my last child. I put her to sleep on her stomach and then draped a blanket over her crib. She needed almost absolute darkness in order to sleep. The blanket obviously didn’t make it air tight, but it did prevent air from circulating over her. We probably only did that for a month or two before she adjusted to light. I was a little apprehensive about the blanket, but it’s what worked!
everytime I babysit i will lay the child down on his or hers back.
I placed my oldest child on his tummy after the umbilical stump healed. Once he was a few months old, he would roll to his side. At nearly 6 years old, he still sleeps on his side or tummy. I did the same with my youngest. He is now a tummy sleeper at nearly 4. I am pregnant with our third child and I’ll probably do the same. I breastfeed my children until at least one year old, no one in my family smokes and I do not use blankets or anything soft in the bed. My oldest choked choked on spit-up when he was an infant. I heard gurgling noises and went to check on him and he was literally choking. I am a firm believer in breastfeeding and no soft things in the bed…oh, and tummy sleeping!
I feel if a parent is nervous about tummy sleeping, purchase the angel monitoring system. Then, let you and your baby decide how to sleep. My husband and I were born during the “tummy sleeping era” and we’re fine! 