By Elana Gordon
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-981002.mp3
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Licensed child care facilities in Missouri must now place infants on their backs during nap time. The new law, effective this month, aims to reduce the number of infant deaths in the state. And as KCUR's Elana Gordon reports, the change has been a long-time coming.
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The American Academy of Pediatrics recommended fifteen years ago, that babies sleep on their backs to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS. Since then, the rate of SIDS has gone down by more than 50 percent nationwide.
Cheryl Herzog Arneill, with the Missouri organization SIDS resources, says that's partly because placing infants on their backs ensures they have an open airway.
"When a baby is not positioned on their backs for sleep, they have less ability to lift their head and get out of threatening positions," says Arneill. "And if any type of loose bedding or soft fluffy material - even a bumper pad in the crib - would get too close to an infant's airway, the buildup of carbon dioxide or exhaled air could actually trigger a SIDS episode."
As of two years ago, Missouri was one of only about a dozen states without a sleep-policy for child cares. Arneill says that's a problem because SIDS deaths are disproportionately high in child care settings.
"That's not something intrinsic to child care," Arneill says. "Most of it relates to unaccustomed tummy sleeping."
Arneill says a lot of facilities already have their own 'back-to-sleep' policies, but Missouri's new law means the practice will be a requirement for infants less than 12 months old in the more than 3,000 licensed child-care facilities in the state.
The rule does not apply to the state's thousands of legal, unlicensed child cares. Arneill says the change is still significant.
"We're hopeful this news will really spread within the child-care community, and most people will know and understand the importance of back-to-sleep," says Arneill.
Between 2005 and 2009, there were 25 SIDS deaths in Kansas City, and more than 150 statewide (the state health department does not classify how many of those cases happened in child care).
The law marks the first update to the state's child care rules in two decades, and also requires that licensed child cares have at least one staff member trained in CPR and first aid.
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