According to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics on Monday, December 1, too many U.S. infants are still sleeping with blankets, pillows, or other unsafe bedding that may lead to suffocation or sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), despite guidelines recommending against the practice.
To conduct their study, researchers from the National Institutes of Health and federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analyzed annual telephone surveys involving nearly 20,000 parents. Almost 7 out of 8 used blankets or other soft bedding for their infants in 1993. That dropped sharply over the years but by 2010, more than half still were doing so. The practice was most common among young mothers, blacks, and Hispanics.
To protect your baby and keep her warm without the extra bedding, pediatricans recommend using one-piece sleepers, like sleep sacks, and keeping the room a comfortable temperature.
Photo: Getty
