Babies require constant care and attention. An infant is more likely to be in danger than a grown up or a child. Doctors have advised that parents should always be mindful of what their babies are doing and how they are sitting or sleeping. A new study performed by the researchers at the Yale School of Medicine found that many mothers do not put their babies to sleep in a safe and recommended manner. The study was carried out on mothers from 32 U.S. hospitals.
What was the research about?
In the past few decades, research has proven that the position of a child when they sleep is quite important when it comes to reducing life risks.
Previous studies cited by CNN, have shown that infants sleeping on their backs have less chances of dying from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS, than babies who sleep in any other position. However, the recent study has shown that although most mothers are aware of it, they do not necessarily put their child to sleep on their back.
The causes of SIDS are not clear but it can be greatly reduced if the child is laid on their back. However, a popular notion is that infants are more comfortable sleeping on their bellies than they are on their backs. Some mothers also believe that sleeping on their bellies reduces risk of choking and other hazards. Only around 43.7 percent of the mothers included in the recent study revealed that they intend to use this method and do practice it with their children all the time.
What the study revealed
The study surveyed 3,297 mothers out of which 77.3 percent of the women claimed that they usually put their babies to sleep on their backs, but not always. The study mainly focused on the fact that even though many mothers intended to put their children to sleep in the correct manner, many of them did not do so.
The study also discovered that those mothers who were not around to fully control the manner of laying the child down and relied on their family members found that it was three times more likely for the baby to be placed on their stomach.
The study also focused on different racial demographics as well, which included both Hispanic and African-American women.
"African-American mothers were reported to be the least likely to put their babies on their backs, compared with other demographics, according to CNN.
Researchers claimed that often mothers think that if the child sleeping on their back is "waking" up frequently or "crying," it means that they are uncomfortable. Consequently, the mothers let the child decide the sleeping position, which can be harmful to the baby.
