The American Academy of Pediatrics recently recommended several steps to parents to reduce the risk of sleep-related infant death. Among the recommendations:

• Back to sleep for every sleep. Infants should be placed on their backs until they reach 1 year.
• Use a firm sleep surface, covered by a fitted sheet with no other bedding or soft objects.
• Breastfeeding is recommended.
• Infants should sleep in the parents’ room, close to the parents’ bed, but on a separate surface designed for infants. Ideally this should continue for the first year but at least for six months.
• Keep soft objects and loose bedding away from the infant’s sleep area to reduce the risk of SIDS, suffocation, entrapment and strangulation.
• Consider offering a pacifier at naptime and bedtime.
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