University of FloridaSolutions for Your Life

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Publication #FAR0418

 

Sleeping Safely1

Donna Davis2

Figure 1. 
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Making the announcement to friends and family that you've got a baby on the way is usually cause for celebration. Expectant parents can often become overwhelmed by the good-natured advise that those friends and family who are so willing to share. With two grandmothers-to-be with nursing backgrounds, I was certainly no exception. However, I've learned that what was considered a good practice when our mothers were raising us, like putting a baby to bed face down, was really a very bad choice.

One of every parent's greatest nightmares is SIDS, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, the leading cause of death for infants one month to one year old. With greater awareness of safe sleeping practices, SIDS has declined by more than 50% since 1994, yet continues to claim approximately 2,000 babies each year—90% of which occur before they're six months old.

According to The National SIDS/Infant Death Resource Center, there are a number of things parents can do to prevent SIDS, suffocation, or strangulation. For example, place your baby on his or her back and remove all soft bedding from the crib. Also, make certain the crib meets the safety standards of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Likewise, never allow your baby to sleep in an adult bed, as tempting as it may be to cuddle up in the middle of the night.

For more information on how to prevent SIDS, visit http://www.familyalbumradio.org or talk to your doctor about additional risks. Then again, there's always friends and family….

Listening, learning, and living together: it's the science of life. "Family Album" is a co-production of University of Florida IFAS Extension, the Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, and of WUFT-FM.

To listen to the radio broadcast:

http://www.radiosource.net/radio_stories/381.mp3

http://www.radiosource.net/radio_stories/381.wav

References

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. (n.d.) Sweet Dreams: Safe Sleep for Babies. Retrieved March 15, 2011, from http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/209.pdf.

First Candle. (2006, December). SIDS facts. Retrieved April 10, 2007, from http://www.sidsalliance.org/expectantparents/exp_sids.html.

The National SIDS/Infant Death Resource Center. (n.d.) Home page. Retrieved April 10, 2007, from http://www.sidscenter.org/.

Footnotes

1.

This document is FAR0418, one of a series of the Family Youth and Community Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Broadcast as program 381. Published March 2009. Revised March 2009. Reviewed March 2012. In the interest of time and/or clarity, the broadcast version of this script may have been modified. Visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2.

Donna Davis, senior producer, Family Album Radio, Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, Dean.