Study: Many parents don't place babies on their backs to sleep

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.