Back to Sleep Campaign and SIDS - Will My Baby Die if He Sleeps on His Stomach?

Your Baby Will Die if He Sleeps on His Stomach - Any mother today can tell you about the scare tactics that hospitals put on a new mother when it comes to putting your baby to sleep. Some hospitals even require you to sign a form saying that you will always put your baby to sleep on his back. Most everyone follows doctor's orders, so if the doctor tells you to do something, most likely you will do it. So why are we being forced to put our babies on their backs? Is this really the best thing you can do for your baby?

Doctors who took care of our mothers and their mothers gave orders to only put their babies to sleep on their stomachs. In how-to books of yesteryear it shows you how to properly put your baby to sleep, on its stomach! So...why did they all of the sudden change the rules and scare mothers saying that it would result in eminent death if newborns were put to sleep on their stomachs?

How it Started - It all started in 1994 with the introduction of the "Back to Sleep" campaign. This campaign was brought about by a recommendation to put babies on their backs to sleep in order to reduce the risk of SIDS. SIDS is also known as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and doctors don't know the exact cause of SIDS but they had some evidence that stomach sleeping was a cause for it. 82% of babies were sleeping on their stomachs when this campaign started in 1994 and the SIDS rate was 1.17 deaths per 1,000 live births. This was already a drop from 1.4 per 1,000 in 1988. By 2006 75% of babies were sleeping on their backs and the SIDS rate was down to .55 per 1,000 live births.

So when we read articles saying that SIDS was decreased by 50% with the Back to Sleep Campaign it makes us think that the numbers are a lot bigger than 1 and 0.55! It also makes you wonder when you notice that the SIDS rates were already in a decline before the introduction of Back to Sleep. Did the Back to Sleep Campaign really help or was it just a coincidence with advances in medicine and mothers being more educated as far as not smoking and breastfeeding their babies?

Negative Impacts they Don't Tell You About - Professionals boast about this tiny decrease in SIDS but they don't tell you all the negative impacts that strictly back sleeping has had on many infants.

The most noticeable impact would be the dramatic increase of cases of Plagiocephaly or "Flat Head Syndrome" in babies. This is a malformation of the skull that is a result of the infant spending so much time on its back, after all, infants sleep most of the day! Doctors say this condition is only cosmetic, but it is argues that it cause developmental delays as well.

An annoying impact as well as a very unhealthy impact for your baby would be the loss of sleep. Back sleeping is a very unnatural position for your newborn and many parents notice that a newborn is harder to put to sleep and sleeps less when it is on its back. This is also puts a strain on your baby when it needs all those hours of sleep to grow strong and stay healthy. Imagine if you weren't getting enough sleep how cranky you would be - that would be how an infant would feel.

There is also a link to back sleeping and developmental delays. Babies who sleep on their back use a whole different set of muscles than babies who sleep on their stomachs. This can be a cause for babies who crawl and walk much later than their stomach sleeping counterparts.

There has also been speculation of a correlation between the back sleeping campaign and the rise of autism.

Make Your Own Decision - In conclusion, every baby and every parent is different. Doctors are very smart and know many things, but they don't always know what is best for you or your baby. It is your decision in the end. Don't think that you have to lay your child to sleep on his back just because your doctor told you to. You do whatever feels right for you and what works best for your baby. The best way to prevent SIDS is not to smoke while pregnant or around your baby, breastfeed for as long and as much as you can, don't put too many covers in the crib/bed/bassinet with your baby and let your newborn sleep on your chest as much as possible. Your breathing helps him control his breathing and it gives you two quality bonding time!

If you do all of these things your baby's chance of dying from SIDS will be dramatically decreased but keep in mind that the cause of SIDS is not known so there will always be a small risk, but the chances of your baby curling up and dying from sleeping on its stomach are pretty small! So, make your own choice and don't live in fear!