Infant Sleep Safety – Only 31% of Blogs Contain Correct Info!

I received a newsletter update from BabyCenter.com with a link to a story about infant sleep safety and thought I’d check it out:

“According to a study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, Google internet searches related to infant sleep safety often do not reflect AAP recommendations.”

By the way, AAP stands for American Academy of Pediatrics. The article continues that:

“Blogs, retail product reviews, and individuals’ websites most often provided incorrect information on infant sleep safety. Blogs were only about 31 percent accurate.”

Wow. And even only 80% of government websites were accurate – that’s really scary. But this definitely motivated me to try to get some more correct info out there in cyberspace!

Unfortunately, the article posted at BabyCenter.com left out a key piece of information – where parents SHOULD look for correct information about sleep safety for their babies!!!

Luckily, a quick search on The Journal of Pediatrics website allowed me to locate the original article abstract which contains this info:

“Dr. Moon suggests the following websites as good starting places for infant sleep safety information: Health Finder (www.healthfinder.gov), Medline Plus (www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus), and Health on the Net Foundation (www.hon.ch/HONcode).”

And of course, I would assume the AAP website itself and their sister site HealthyChildren.org (both of which I found are much easier to navigate).

But just so we’re all clear, here are the updated Infant Sleep Safety Guidelines (taken from this article on the AAP website and this article from the Healthy Children site):

1. Always put your baby on their back to sleep (I’ll always remember the campaign slogan I saw in a subway train once: “Face up to wake up.”)
2. Always use a firm sleep surface. Car seats and other sitting devices are not recommended for routine sleep. Also do NOT put baby to sleep on adult beds, chairs, sofas, waterbeds, pillows, or cushions.
3. Don’t put anything in the bed with your baby. That means NO: blankets, soft objects, toys, stuffed animals, crib bumpers, quilts, pillows, comforters, sheepskins or loose bedding
4. Wedges and positioners should not be used.
5. Don’t allow smoking around your baby
6. The baby should sleep in the same room as the parents, but not in the same bed (room-sharing without bed-sharing).
7. Breastfeeding is recommended and is associated with a reduced risk of SIDS
8. Infants should be immunized. Evidence suggests that immunization reduces the risk of SIDS by 50 percent.
9. Once again, Bumper pads should not be used in cribs. There is no evidence that bumper pads prevent injuries, and there is a potential risk of suffocation, strangulation or entrapment.
10. Offer a pacifier at nap time and bedtime.
11. Avoid covering the infant’s head or overheating.
12. Do not use home monitors or commercial devices marketed to reduce the risk of SIDS.

Here’s to sweet dreams for everyone.