A COMMUNITY-BASED SURVEY OF INFANT SLEEP POSITION

Objective. To determine prevalent infant sleep positions before and af ter the American Academy of Pediatrics position statement of 1992 and to identify determinants of sleep position. Method. Design: cross-sect ional survey. Setting: private and hospital-sponsored general pediatri c offices. Participants: parents of infants younger than 7 months of a ge. Results. Eight hundred fifty-two care givers completed surveys dur ing the 5-week study. Fifty-four percent of the study infants were put to sleep in the prone position. In 416 families with more than one ch ild, however, 75% of the youngest siblings had been put to sleep in th e prone position at the same age. Gender, race, family income, materna l smoking, and birth weight were not associated with choice of sleep p osition. Conclusions. There has been a change in infant sleep position ing in the desired direction since the American Academy of Pediatrics statement. However, 54% of the study infants were still being put to s leep prone.