Health Canada issued the following News Release
Babies' "flat heads" can be prevented: Growing
public awareness of SIDS prompts concern about positional
plagiocephaly
October 29, 2001, Ottawa -The partners in a national
campaign entitled Back to Sleep, aimed at reducing the risk of
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) want to allay concerns over a
possible consequence of babies who sleep on their back: positional
plagiocephaly, more commonly known as "flat head."
The key recommendation of the Back to Sleep campaign, launched
in 1999, by the Canadian Foundation for the Study of Infant
Deaths, the Canadian Institute of Child Health, the Canadian
Paediatric Society, and Health Canada, is that babies should be
placed to sleep on their back. Sleeping in the prone position (on
the stomach) or on the side are known risk factors for SIDS. The
campaign followed up on a 1993 statement by the partners warning
against the risks of tummy sleeping.
Since the launch of the campaign, which included a joint
statement for health care professionals and public education
initiatives, awareness of SIDS and proper sleep positioning has
continued to grow. In a recent survey conducted for Health Canada
by Environics, 71 per cent of parents and caregivers reported
putting their babies to sleep on their back, up significantly from
40 per cent before the campaign. As awareness of the importance of
the back sleeping position has increased, the number of SIDS
deaths in Canada has fallen steadily-from 385 in 1989 to 269 in
1994 to 138 in 1999.
At the same time, health care professionals are hearing
concerns from parents over babies with "flat head,"
which can occur when a baby sleeps with its head in the same
position. Because a baby's neck muscles are weak, they tend to
turn their head to the same side when placed on their back. A
baby's skull is very soft, and the bones can be affected by
pressure. If they always turn their head to the same side, the
skull may become flat.
Although most flattening resolves on its own, and while this
condition does not affect brain function and development, it is
still preventable.
Since babies like to have something to look at, they tend to
turn their head out toward the room rather than toward the wall.
By placing the baby at alternate ends of the crib (at the head of
the crib one day, the foot of the crib the next), the baby can
still look out into the room, but will not be resting its head on
the same side every day.
This is called "counter positioning." Parents can
also place a mobile on the side of the crib facing out into the
room to encourage the baby to look that way.
To reduce the risk of SIDS and to prevent positional
plagiocephaly or "flat head," the partners in the Back
to Sleep coalition recommend that:
- Babies be placed on their back to sleep, and that their head
be placed in a different position on alternate days; and
- Babies have enough supervised "tummy time" while
they are awake for developmental reasons.
The partners are currently preparing an update to the joint
statement on reducing the risk of SIDS. It will be published in an
upcoming issue of Paediatrics & Child Health, the peer review
journal of the Canadian Paediatric Society, posted on the
partners' website, and disseminated to health care professionals.
The joint statement on Reducing
the Risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is available on the
Internet.
For more information on providing a Safe
Sleeping Environment for your baby go to
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