Why are blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals bad for your babies?
Jun 17, 2019
Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID) accounts for approximately 3,500 deaths in the United States annually. Soft bedding can limit your baby’s access to fresh air and unnecessarily increase the risk of suffocation, a leading cause of SUID.
Research suggests that SUID can be prevented by following infant safe sleep practices, which include placing infants on their backs to sleep and avoiding bed sharing, soft and loose bedding, and other items, including pillows and stuffed animals.
Our LIFE study was designed in an effort to decrease SUID in Virginia. The LIFE program includes online education, distribution of Baby Boxes (a safe place for infants to sleep), and postpartum home visits by pediatric nurses. The intervention reduced intention to use soft bedding by 12% among study participants, but additional efforts need to be made to continue to decrease SUID rates in Virginia. Please view our research brief for more information.