Researchers found that, in some states, half of parents do not follow guidelines that recommend placing infants to sleep on their backs. About two-thirds of U.S. babies born after full term pregnancies are positioned to sleep on their backs, but among preterm infants the rate is lower.
“Given that supine [on the back] sleep positioning significantly reduces an infant’s risk for SIDS, it is worrisome that only two-thirds of full-term infants born in the U.S. are being placed back-to-sleep,” study author Dr. Sunah Hwang, a neonatologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and South Shore Hospital in Massachusetts, said in a statement.
“More concerning is that adherence to safe sleep positioning is even lower for preterm infants who are at even greater risk for SIDS compared to term infants,” Hwang said.
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