A recent study looking at infant sleep-related deaths has found that babies who died under the care of relatives and other childminders were less likely to be placed on their backs and more likely to be sleeping around potentially dangerous objects (such as toys and soft bedding).
Of the 10,490 infant sleep-related deaths examined in the study, 1,375 (13.1 percent) occurred under the supervision of someone other than the child's parents.
Those babies that died under non-parental supervision were less likely to be placed on their backs, the Journal of Paediatrics-published study found.
The supine position, or sleeping on one's back, is recommended by the American Academy of Paediatrics in order to reduce the risk of sleep-related death (such as cot death) in infants.
54.1 percent of licensed childcare providers placed babies on their backs, the safest way for them to sleep. Only 38.4 percent of relatives, 38.6 percent of friends, and 37.8 percent of friends did the same.
"A lot of relatives and friends may not be aware that babies are safest on their backs. They may have raised children before we knew that this was safest," one of the study's researchers, Jeffrey Colvin, MD, of Children's Mercy Kansas City, told Science Daily.
Those infants that died while in the care of relatives or friends were more likely to be placed on an adult bed or couch for sleep and bed sharing.
As well, it was more likely that there were potentially hazardous objects in the sleep environment when relatives or friends were looking after infants. Toys and soft bedding like blankets or sleep bumpers are some such objects.
72.5 percent of licensed childcare providers placed the little ones in cribs or bassinets, which is the advised way for babies to sleep.
49.1 percent of babysitters did the same, and only 29.4 percent of relatives and 27.1 percent of friends put infants to sleep in cribs or bassinets.
Education is a simple way to reverse these unsafe sleeping practices.
"If someone else -- a babysitter, relative, or friend -- is taking care of your baby, please make sure that they know to place your baby on the back in a crib and without any bedding," noted Rachel Moon, MD, of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, the UVA Children's Hospital, and UVA's Child Health Research Center.
She added, "It's always best to discuss where and how your baby should sleep.
"You can't make assumptions that the person with whom your baby is staying will know what is safest."
