Babies Need Baby Beds

ST. LOUIS (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Where a baby sleeps may be just as important as sleeping position in preventing sudden infant death syndrome among African-American infants.

That is the conclusion of a new study that looked at SIDS rates among African-American and non African-American infants. Results showed a high incidence of SIDS among those who were placed to sleep in either an adult bed or a makeshift bed such as a sofa or pile of pillows.

Researchers have long noted a racial difference in SIDS rates. A major campaign to reduce the incidence of SIDS by having parents place babies on their backs or sides during sleep rather than their stomachs has reduced SIDS rates overall, but has not had an effect on the racial differences. In fact, they have increased during the campaign.

This study compared African-American and non African-American death information for all babies less than 2 years old who died from SIDS or a SIDS-related cause in the St. Louis area between January 1994 and December 1997. About 120 deaths were noted. SIDS rates were much higher in African-Americans than non African-Americans, and bed-sharing deaths were nearly twice as common among the former. The same was true for deaths related to other non-approved sleeping surfaces.

However, nearly 50 percent of the infants who died while bed-sharing were lying in the approved back or side position, compared with about 20 percent of those who died while not bed-sharing. These proportions were about the same for both races, leading researchers to conclude racial disparity in sleep position is not the most important contributor to racial differences in SIDS death rates.

Study author James Kemp, M.D., from Saint Louis University School of Medicine, says, "In 1994 we launched a campaign to fight SIDS that encouraged parents to put their infants to sleep on their backs or sides instead of on their stomachs. But sleep position is only part of the answer ... We must talk about the surfaces babies are allowed to sleep on to address the racial disparity in death rates."

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