Sandy Crest Medical Centre - Health Tips
Sleep Position for Young Infants
Healthy infants should sleep on their backs the first 6 months of
life. This reduces the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
SIDS is the sudden unexplained death of a healthy infant. Worldwide
thousands of babies die yearly from SIDS, typically while sleeping.
Sleeping on its stomach increases the pressure
on a baby’s jaw bone which in turn causes the upper airway to become
narrower. Also the baby’s nose and mouth is more likely to be
compressed while sleeping on its stomach. Babies who sleep on their
stomach have a 3 to 9 times greater risk of SIDS when compared to
babies who sleep on their back while babies who sleep on their side
have twice the risk.
Your baby’s day-care nursery or babysitter
should be asked to place your baby on his/ her back to sleep.
Your health care provider may advise you to
place your baby on its stomach in rare cases where there are
complications from spitting up or in instances where there is a
birth defect that interferes with breathing. Any baby who must sleep
on his stomach should be placed on a firm surface.
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