Babies should not sleep with blankets, pillows: Study watns

There are too many U.S. infants sleeping with blankets, pillows or other unsafe bedding that may lead to suffocation or sudden infant death syndrome, according to a recent report.

Nearly 55 percent of infants nationwide are put to bed with soft blankets or covered by a comforter, even though such bedding raises the chances of suffocation or sudden infant death syndrome, federal researchers are reporting Monday.

Despite recommendations to avoid putting anything but a baby in a crib, two-thirds of black and Latino parents still use bedding that is both unnecessary and unsafe, the study also found.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says that parents should keep the soft objects and loose bedding away for infants because they can inadvertently lead to suffocation. Furthermore, bedding has been associated with sudden infant death syndrome, the leading cause of death for infants 1 month to 1 year old.

Accidental suffocation in bed, though uncommon, is the leading cause of injury-related deaths in infants. The study is published in today's Pediatrics.

"I was startled a little bit by the number of people still using bedding in the sleep area," said Dr. Michael Goodstein, a neonatologist in York, Pa., who serves on a task force on sleep-related infant deaths at the American Academy of Pediatrics. "Sleeping face down on soft bedding increases the risks of SIDS 21-fold."

The new analysis looked at data gathered from 1993 to 2010 in the National Infant Sleep Position Study, which surveyed a random sample of nearly 19,000 parents by telephone.

The team of researchers found that over the 17-year period, the use of loose bedding did decline but remained a common practise.

The rate of loose bedding use averaged around 86 per cent in 1993 to 1995, but declined to 55 per cent in 2008 to 2010.

Teenage mothers were found to be most likely to use the dangerous bedding (83.5 per cent), while those babies born at full term were least at risk (55.6 per cent).