Cot death advice should be followed for both day-time and night-time sleeps. 

24 January 2007

The study, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and the time of death: factors associated with night-time and day-time deaths, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology and partly funded by the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID), finds that 75% of the babies who died in the day-time were sleeping in a room where there was no adult present.

The study also finds that the babies who died during the day were more likely to have been placed on their side than on their back for their day-time naps, despite current safe sleeping advice which recommends always placing babies on their back to sleep. They were also more likely to be found with their heads covered by the bedclothes than the babies who didn’t die.

Joyce Epstein, FSID’s Director, says: “Parents have long been advised of the importance of sleeping babies on their back and not letting their head get covered by bedclothes, and this study shows that the advice needs to be followed day and night. Parents have also long been advised that the safest place for a baby to sleep is in a cot at the side of the parents’ bed for the first six months. Today’s study shows that it is important for babies to always sleep in the same room as an adult. For day-time naps, we suggest keeping your baby nearby in a carrycot while you go about your daily chores or, if possible, having a nap whenever your baby naps.”

ends


Notes to editors

Further information about the research: The research, conducted over a three-year period in five regions of the UK, studied 325 infants who died and 1,300 infants of a similar age who didn’t die. It found that the majority (83%) of deaths occurred during the night, but that at least four deaths occurred during every hour of the day.

The study also found that death can occur relatively quickly. Amongst the deaths that happened during the day-time, 38% of the infants who died were observed to be alive 30 minutes before they were found dead, and 9% were observed to be alive 10 minutes before they died. At last observation, 78% of the babies who died during the day-time were described by their parents as apparently healthy.

Of the infants who died during the day-time, 44% were placed on their side to sleep. A further 17% were placed on their front to sleep, while only 39% were placed in the recommended position – on their back – to sleep. Of the babies who didn’t die, 80% of infants were placed in the recommended position on their back for their day-time sleep.

Of the babies who died during the day-time, 25% of those sleeping separately from their parents were found with bedclothes over their head, compared with only 11% where a parent was present.

 

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