This information is from the U.S. Public Health Service, American Academy of Pediatrics, SIDS Alliance, and Association of SIDS Program Professionals, 1997. 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.
Death occurs quickly, usually during a sleep time.
Healthy Babies Should Sleep on Their Back or Side 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 or side to sleep. Do this when your baby is being put down for a nap or to bed for the night. This is new. 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 or side.