Updated Recommendations for Safe Sleep for infants

October 18, 2022

Recently the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) updated their recommendations for safe sleep to reduce infant deaths.

Every year in the US, approximately 3500 infants die of sleep-related deaths, including sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). One of the updated recommendations is to not place a hat on the infant while indoors, except in the first few hours of life during temperature stabilization, to decrease the risk of overheating and suffocation.

Due to this recommendation, the RAMC Birth Center will no longer be able to accept the donations of knitted hats that volunteers have so generously made for our newborns for so many years.

In addition to this recommendation, other ways to reduce infant deaths during sleep include:

Back to sleep for every sleep.
Use a firm, flat, non-inclined sleep surface.
Feed human milk.
Room sharing (not bed sharing), for at least the first six months of life.
Keep extra items out of the sleep area, including pillows, blankets, stuffed animals, etc.
Offer a pacifier for sleep.
Avoid smoke, nicotine, alcohol, marijuana, opioids, and illicit drugs during pregnancy and after birth.
Avoid the use of commercial devices, such as in-bed sleepers, baby nests, and the like.
The use of home cardiorespiratory monitors are not advised unless instructed to do so by the healthcare provider.
Follow immunization guidelines from the AAP and CDC.

Pictured is sleeping baby Rhett, with his parents Danica and Max Sebranek. Rhett is pictured sleeping appropriately according to the AAP safe sleep recommendations: on his back on a firm, flat surface, without a hat on, and no extra items in his sleep area. Rhett was born October 13, 2022 at 1:54 pm. He weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces and is 20 inches long. Congratulations Sebranek family!