PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A recent study found that many people are not aware of these two tips that could help save a baby’s life.
Sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, is the unexpected, unexplained, sudden death of a child younger than one year old. It’s the most common cause of death in babies, and contributes to nearly 2,300 deaths each year.
SIDS has been on the decline in recent decades, thanks in part to the Federal Safe to Sleep Campaign, but a new study from the University of Pennsylvania shows many people don’t know that babies should be placed on their backs to sleep.
“Women under 50 are most likely to know babies should be placed on their backs for sleep. Seventy-six percent of them know. While men over 50 years old are least likely to know. Just 54% of them know. So we just want to make sure that all potential caregivers know it's safest to place an infant on their back when putting them to sleep,” said Laura Gibson, a Senior Data Analyst at the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
She says families also need to discuss the harmful effects of smoking around infants, as it increases a baby’s chances of SIDS.
“Fewer people knew it was true overall, just over half. And there was just a lot more uncertainty about this question. About a third were not sure. And again, we saw variation by age and gender,” Gibson said.
After the Safe to Sleep campaign was launched in 1994, there was a 50% reduction in SIDS. The campaign was terminated in April, but helpful information is still available on the National Institutes of Health’s website.