I was touched by Tribune staff reporter Lisa Black’s story of the two insurance agents who helped a young woman deliver her baby in her car (“Baby doing just fine after `arriving’ in car,” Metro, Nov. 7).
I was concerned, however, with the accompanying photo of the newborn baby sleeping on her stomach.
Placing babies to sleep on their stomachs, as opposed to their backs, has been shown to increase the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), the No. 1 cause of death among children 1 to 12 months of age. Since 1992, when the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that infants be placed to sleep on their backs, the annual SIDS rate has decreased by almost 50 percent with the help of the National Institute of Child Health and Development “Back to Sleep Campaign” to spread the word.
Unless a baby has a documented medical condition that requires her to sleep on her stomach, the child should always be placed to sleep on her back.
