What You Need To Know About Infant Sleep

Every year in the US, 3,500 infants die of sleep-related infant deaths (SIDS).  The American Academy of Pediatrics published an update to recommendations for reducing infant deaths in the sleep environment in 2022.

The following are the updated recommendations for safe sleep practices:   

1. BACK to sleep for every infant – make sure the infant is sleeping on their back.
2. Use a firm, flat, non-inclined sleep surface to reduce the risk of suffocation or wedging/entrapment.
3. If possible, feeding breastmilk is recommended and is associated with a reduced risk of SIDS.
4. It is recommended infants sleep in the parent’s room, close to the parent’s bed, but on a separate surface designed for infants, ideally for at least the first 6 months.   
5. Keep soft objects, such as pillows, pillow-like toys, quilts, comforters, mattress toppers, fur-like materials, and loose bedding such as blankets and non-fitted sheets, away from the infant’s sleep area to reduce the risk of SIDS, suffocation, entrapment/wedging, and strangulation.  
6. Weighted sleepsacks and swaddles are not recommended.
7. Offering a pacifier at nap time and bedtime is recommended
8. Avoid smoke and nicotine exposure during pregnancy and after birth.  
9. Avoid alcohol, marijuana, opioids, and illicit drug use during pregnancy and after birth.  
10. Avoid overheating and head covering in infants.   
11. It is recommended that pregnant people obtain prenatal care.  
12. It is recommended that infants be immunized in accordance with guidelines from the AAP and CDC. 
13. Do not use home cardiorespiratory monitors as a strategy to reduce the risk of SIDS.  
14. Supervised, awake tummy time is recommended to facilitate development and to minimize the risk of positional plagiocephaly (misshaped heads).   Parents are encouraged to place the infant in tummy time while awake and supervised for short periods of time beginning soon after hospital discharge, increasing incrementally to at least 15 – 30 min total daily by age 7 weeks.   
15. There is no evidence to recommend swaddling as a strategy to reduce the risk of SIDS.   

If you have questions or concerns regarding your infants’ sleep habits, consult your healthcare provider.  

Little Spurs Pediatric Urgent Care opened in 2006 in San Antonio, Texas. With multiple locations in San Antonio and Dallas, they are open seven days a week with extended evening hours and see walk-in patients or through an online check-in system. They accept most commercial insurance and Medicaid plans.