The American Pediatric Society has just released new recommendations for adapting where and how to sleep toddlers.
“We know that parents can be overwhelmed by the birth of a child and we want to provide a clear and simple guide on how and where to sleep” safely. It is in these terms, relayed by AFP, that the American Academy of Pediatrics introduces its new recommendations to fight against sudden infant death syndrome.
The report, presented this Monday at the AAP annual conference in San Francisco, is also published online in the medical journal Pediatrics. This is the first update to the AAP’s recommendations since 2011 to create a safer sleep environment for infants, as 3,500 young children die each year in the United States in their sleep, due to the syndrome. sudden infant death or accidental suffocation.
In the parents’ room
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), infants should sleep in their parents’ room in a cradle to minimize the risk of mortality associated with the period of sleep. Such a practice should be followed for at least the first six months, and even up to a year, specifies the medical association, stressing that making the child sleep in the same room as his parents reduces by up to 50% the risk. sudden death.
The AAP report also recommends that infants lie on their backs on a firm surface in a cradle, wrapped in a tight-fitting sheet and avoid blankets, pillows, or soft toys that could suffocate them and create excessive heat. Studies also show that putting babies on their backs to sleep dropped the number of infants dying from sudden death syndrome by 53% between 1992 and 2001.
Physical contact after birth
Children are at the greatest risk of sudden death between one and four months, but new studies show that blankets, pillows and other soft objects are dangerous for babies four months and beyond, says the AAP.
In addition, American pediatricians reiterate in their new recommendations the importance of physical contact between mother and newborn immediately after birth, regardless of the mode of delivery. The baby is happier, his body temperature is more stable and normal, as is his heart rate, experts insist.
In contact with his mother’s skin, the child can be colonized by the same bacteria, which is important for developing his immune system. Physical contact with the mother and being breastfed appear to be important for the prevention of allergies, underlines the AAP. Breastfeeding the child also increases protection against sudden death syndrome.
Unexplained causes
In France, with 400 to 500 cases per year, unexpected infant death is the leading cause of death between one month and one year. The recommendations in force are similar to those in the US regarding sleeping: position the baby on his back, avoid soft objects (pillows, duvets, cuddly toys), overheated environments and exposure to smoking.
But the French health authorities recommend “a separate bed but close” to the parental room, while specifying that the risk of sudden infant death “is reduced when the child sleeps in the same room”. However, these recommendations have not been reviewed since 1994 and French pediatricians call for a reassessment, while 75% of cases have no known scientific explanation.
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