Safe Sleep for Baby: Reduce the Risk of SIDS

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is the sudden and unexplained death of an infant under one year of age. SIDS, sometimes known as crib death, is the major cause of death in babies from 1 month to 1 year of age. Most SIDS deaths occur when a baby is between 1 and 4 months old. More boys than girls are victims, and most deaths occur during the fall, winter and early spring months.

One of the most important things you can do to help reduce the risk of SIDS is to put your healthy baby on his or her back to sleep. Do this when your baby is being put down for a nap or to bed for the night. Your mother was told and, if you have other children, you may have been told that babies should sleep on their tummy. Now, doctors and nurses believe that fewer babies will die of SIDS if most infants sleep on their back.

This 10-minute video is part of the Safe to Sleep campaign (formerly the Back to Sleep campaign), an effort to educate parents and caregivers about ways to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and other sleep-related causes of infant death. The video portrays what a safe sleep environment looks like and describes other ways to reduce the risk of SIDS and other sleep-related causes of infant death.