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 Researchers questioned caregivers of newborns at Staten Island
University Hospital in New York City about sleep safety and found 53
percent of them disagreed with use of pacifiers – which are in fact
linked to a lower risk of SIDS – and 62 percent believed in
swaddling infants – which is tied to an increased SIDS risk.
It’s possible that new parents may have a hard time discarding
advice from their own parents or grandparents even though
recommendations about sleep safety have changed considerably from
one generation to the next, lead study author Dr. Sarah Varghese
said by email.
“There is a certain power surrounding 'traditional' knowledge,” said
Varghese, now at Emory University and Children’s Healthcare of
Atlanta. “Both parents and health care professionals need to stay
up-to-date on recommendations.”
Nationwide, SIDS kills about four babies out of every 10,000 live
births, down from about 130 in 10,000 in 1990, according to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Despite the dramatic decline in death from SIDS since 1992, when the
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) announced that babies should be
placed on their backs to sleep, SIDS in recent years has remained
the third leading cause of infant mortality, the authors report in
the Journal of Perinatology.
Almost four years ago, the AAP issued new infant sleep guidelines
for prevention of SIDS and other sleep-related deaths; the
guidelines encouraged breastfeeding, pacifier use, and firm crib
mattresses, and cautioned against blankets and pillows and
bed-sharing.
The study by Varghese and colleagues, while small, suggests that at
least some parents may not have absorbed these most recent
recommendations.
The researchers questioned 121 caregivers, including parents and
grandparents, of newborns delivered in 2013, asking how strongly
they agreed or disagreed with recommended infant sleep safety
practice.
Most participants strongly agreed on the importance of using a
safety approved crib, avoiding exposure to smoke and getting routine
childhood vaccinations.
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But most of them disagreed with guidance against swaddling and using
home monitors, as well as recommended pacifier use.
Some caregivers may avoid pacifiers because they have concerns about
dental issues, while others may worry that it could interfere with
breastfeeding, the study authors note. The AAP recommends starting
pacifier use when babies are about three or four weeks old, after
they are successfully breastfeeding.
Swaddling with blankets or specially designed wraps can increase the
risk of infant death, but some nurses still swaddle infants in the
hospital and teach new parents how to do it themselves, the authors
note. Some caregivers believe swaddling can soothe infants and make
it easier for them to sleep.
Only 61 percent of participants recalled being taught about sleep
safety by a health care provider.
The study was small, limited to English-speaking participants and
included primarily white caregivers, which may limit how much the
findings apply to a more diverse population, the researchers
acknowledge.
Even so, the findings highlight the challenge of conveying safe
sleep practices to parents who may be overwhelmed by too much
advice, said Dr. Michael Goodstein, a neonatologist at York Hospital
WellSpan Health in York, Pennsylvania and a member of the AAP task
force on SIDS.
“Even if parents have been made aware of safe sleep information,
there may be competing and conflicting information and advice
available from multiple sources including books, magazines, family
and friends, TV shows and the Internet, as well as many different
health care providers,” Goodstein, who wasn’t involved in the study,
said by email.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1iCOSar Journal of Perinatology, published
online September 3, 2015.
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