A new study found that nearly 55 percent of babies are still sleeping in unsafe soft bedding despite the risk of them suffering from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
About 4,000 U.S. infants die from SIDS per year which often occur while the infant is still sleeping or in an unsafe sleeping environment. Researchers presume that the infants died of suffocation from soft bedding or overlay.
"Parents receive a lot of mixed messages," study author Marian Willinger, special assistant for SIDS at the NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said in a press release. "Relatives may give those quilts or fluffy blankets as presents for the new baby, and they feel obligated to use them. Or they see magazine photos of babies with potentially unsafe bedding items. But babies should be placed for sleep on a firm, safety approved mattress and fitted sheet, without any other bedding."
Researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other institutions, looked at the data from the National Infant Sleep Position Survey (NISP) that involved more than 1,000 caregivers in the U.S. households from 1992 to 2010 for the study.
The respondents were asked to complete a survey asking whether the infants sleep on soft beddings such as blankets, bean bag chairs, rugs, sheepskin, cushions or pillows. They were also asked if they cover the infants with the same soft objects. The Safe to Sleep program of the NIH recommends avoiding these soft objects and use sleep clothing instead.
"Bedding use for infant sleep remains common despite recommendations against this practice," the study authors wrote.
The analysis showed that 55 percent of the babies were sleeping in soft bedding consistently within the study period. While the researchers saw a significant decline on the use of thick blankets, quilts, and comforters as covering for the babies, they didn't see the same improvement on soft bedding.
The researchers presume that most parents prefer to have their babies sleep in soft bedding despite the risk because of comfort.
This study was published in the Dec. 1 issue of the Pediatrics.
