Planning a Safe Place for Your Baby to Sleep Throughout the
first year of life, sleeping babies have died accidentally from:
suffocation; smothering; wedging; being trapped under someone
else while sharing a bed; being placed to sleep on a sleep
surface not intended for an infant; and from Sudden Infant Death
Syndrome (SIDS). Babies sleep in many places. This is often
based on cultural, traditional, or personal reasons. Regardless
of where babies sleep, all babies need a safe sleep environment.
It was more than thirteen years ago that the American Academy of
Pediatrics (AAP) released its first policy statement on reducing
the risk of SIDS. The statement recommended that all healthy
infants be placed on their backs to sleep in order to reduce the
risks of SIDS. Since then, the percentage of infants placed on
their backs to sleep has increased dramatically, and the rates
of SIDS have declined by more than 50 percent. Since the AAP
published its Year 2000 statement on SIDS several issues have
become relevant, in