James Debono
One in five Maltese midwives and nurses are giving out the wrong advice on how babies should be put to bed, in what could lead to the sudden infant-death syndrome.
One in five midwives and nurses working in the maternity ward are giving out wrong advice on SIDS, sudden infant-death syndrome, according to doctors writing in the Malta Medical Journal.
SIDS is the sudden and unexplained death of an infant younger than one year and can strike without warning, usually in seemingly healthy babies.
The baby’s sleeping position is the most important way of preventing this frightful prospect.
Between 1995 and 2007 three Maltese babies died due to SIDS. Medical research in the 1990s has shown that the “back to sleep” is considered as the safest position.
As a result, educational campaigns were launched to encourage parents to place their babies to sleep on the back rather than on the stomach.
Sleeping on the stomach – the prone position – is deemed to be the most dangerous position, increasing the risk of SIDS as much as 18-fold.
But sleeping on the side is also deemed dangerous, as babies tend to roll back to a prone position.
According to the study by paediatricians Simon Attard Montalto and Joseph Mizzi, and midwifery lecturer Rita Pace Parascandolo, in 2007 11% of Maltese midwives and nurses were unaware that the sleeping position can result in SIDS.
While in 2006 only 38% of midwifes and nurses working in the maternity ward advised the back sleeping position, in 2007 81% gave the correct advice.
Half the nurses and midwives employed in the maternity ward participated in the study. The improved results came in the wake of a focused educational campaign to make midwives and nurses aware of the causes of SIDS.
But a small number of midwives and nurses are still unaware of the importance of the supine sleeping position in infants.
“About 20% are still advising mothers to place the baby on the side, or at least recommending both back or side,” the authors of the study wrote.
None of the midwives advised parents to put their babies to sleep in the prone position but 5% advised them to put their babies to sleep on the side. A further 14% advised them to put babies to sleep on the side or the back.
According to the authors, “this may pose a problem as parents are unlikely to be convinced of the best approach to adopt if they receive conflicting advice from hospital.”
Some midwives even expressed the unfounded concern that babies sleeping in supine position could choke or regurgitate.
How to reduce the risk of SIDS
• Always place your baby on the back to sleep
• Do not smoke during pregnancy
• Do not allow smoking around your baby
• Place your baby on firm sleep surface
• Keep the baby’s head uncovered
• Keep toys out of your baby’s sleeping area
• Do not place baby in parents’ bed
• Do not let baby overheat during sleep
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