Bassinets are used for sleeping by newborns and young infants until they are about 4-6 months of age. Once babies are able to roll over by themselves, at three or four months of age, it is no longer safe for the baby to be left in a bassinet as they could tip themselves out, so they must use a full size crib. It is a common concern for the mother to know how to safely lay the baby down in the bassinet for sleep. In the past American pediatricians advised the mothers to put the baby on their stomachs while putting them to sleep. In the light of a number of studies conducted in the early 1990s, American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) changed its recommendation to instruct new parents to place babies to sleep on their backs or sides in 1992.
In 1994, the U.S. government started a campaign, called the "Back to Sleep" campaign, to encourage back sleeping, and current recommendations call for back sleeping only. The previous notion that sleeping on the stomach will protect the babies in-case they vomit stomach contents and aspirate into lung causing suffocation, was found to be not safe, instead prone sleeping position has been found to be associated with increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Since the recommendation of back sleeping was introduced by AAP in 1992, the incidence of SIDS has gone down more than 40% in USA. The "Back to Sleep" campaign has helped to increase the number of babies being put to sleep on their backs from 25 percent to 70 percent from 1993 to 2007. Among African-Americans and Hispanics, the rates of back-sleeping are lower and the rates of SIDS is higher than the national averages, more education efforts are needed to educate baby caregivers about safe baby sleeping positions.
National Institute of Health sponsored studies conducted by pediatricians have shown that healthy babies are not at increased risk of vomiting and aspirating when put to sleep on their back unless they have other medical problems. Some parents are concerned that when babies roll over on to their stomach, they may suffocate. The danger of SIDS is highest before 4 months of age, when babies cannot roll over by themselves. Pediatricians generally assure new parents that rolling over onto the stomach is not a major concern, since a baby who can roll over can also push himself out of an unsafe position where he might suffocate.
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