By Megan Canady
Helping every baby sleep safely to prevent suffocation and reduce the risk of SIDS
Caregivers do so much to keep infants safe. They buckle them in car seats, keep medication out of reach, install baby gates, and supervise bath time just to name a few, but did you know that infants are at highest risk of dying while they are sleeping? Infants dying in an unsafe sleep environment is the leading cause of death for North Carolina infants two to 12 months of age. Consistently and diligently practicing safe sleep is one of the most powerful ways resource parents and professionals can protect infants and ensure their safety.
Safe sleep recommendations
Below are four key recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to prevent sleep-related accidental suffocation and strangulation and to reduce the risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome).
Babies sleep safest:
- On their back: Always place infants on their backs for sleep—both naps and nighttime. Once a baby can roll over independently, it’s okay for them to find their own sleeping position but always start them on their back.
- In a flat and firm crib, bassinet, or pack-n-play: Not an inclined seat or mattress, adult bed, couch, or soft sided sleeper.
- With nothing but baby: In their own separate sleep space without another person, pillow, blankets, bumper pads, or toys. Sleeping with another person or with these items in a sleep space can pose serious suffocation and strangulation hazards, even for short naps.
- Tobacco free and with a sober and alert caregiver: Free from smoke and exposure and with a caregiver who is not consuming alcohol, using cannabis, opiates, or illegal substances.
Addressing bed sharing
The leading factor associated with infant sleep-related deaths in North Carolina is when an infant is sleeping on a shared sleep space with another person. The AAP states that sleeping with a baby on a shared space is never recommended because it greatly increases the risk of death.
It’s extra important not to bed share with a baby if:
- The caretaker has been drinking alcohol, used marijuana or illicit drugs, or taken any medicines that make them less alert.
- The baby is younger than 4 months, was born at a low birth weight, or was born prematurely.
Share your room, not your bed with baby
This means keeping baby’s sleep area in the same room (but not in the same bed) where the caregiver sleeps for at least the first 6 months. Place baby’s sleep space in the caregiver’s bedroom, close to their bed.
We all play a role
These deaths are largely preventable, but it requires everyone to do their part to ensure safe sleep is consistently practiced. Practicing safe sleep can be challenging, so it is critical that caregivers and professionals keep the dialogue going and work together to reduce risk and increase protective factors to provide a safe sleep every nap and at night.
Safe Sleep NC: Free resources and support
Safe Sleep NC has a number of free resources to help support your safe sleep efforts.
- Free online training for professionals
- Handouts and videos for families and caregivers
- Social media toolkit
Email Megan Canady at [email protected] for more information.
Megan Canady is a Research Associate with the UNC Chapel Hill Collaborative for Maternal and Infant Health
