Bibliographic information
GuidelineWHO recommendations on maternal and newborn care for a positive postnatal experience.
Year of Publication2022
Issuing InstitutionWorld Health Organization
Recommendation
New
Putting the baby to sleep in the supine position during the first year is recommended to prevent sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI).
Recommended
Certainty of evidence
Very low
Notes and Remarks
Remarks
- This recommendation is based on studies from high-income countries regardless of the gestational age of the baby. Other risk factors for SIDS (e.g. bed-sharing, sleeping place, parental smoking, etc.) were not considered.
- In making this recommendation, the Guideline Development Group also considered the evidence from ecological studies reporting the trends in post-neonatal mortality and SIDS rates from international vital statistics, epidemiologic studies of SIDS risk factors and outcomes of public health interventions that advocated non-prone sleeping to reduce the risk for SIDS.