Study finds that more than 50 percent of infants sleep with unsafe bedding

Study finds that more than 50 percent of infants sleep with unsafe bedding
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Researchers have a warning for parents: Too many infants in the United States are still sleeping with dangerous bedding, which could lead to suffocation or sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

For years, the American Academy of Pediatrics, National Institutes of Health (NIH), and safety experts have told parents that babies should not sleep with soft bedding, including pillows, blankets, and crib bumpers. For a study published Monday in Pediatrics, researchers from the NIH and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed telephone surveys of 20,000 parents dating back to 1993, and found that back then, almost 7 out of 8 used blankets on their infants. By 2010, more than half were still doing so, with the practice most common among young mothers, blacks, and Hispanics, The Associated Press reports.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.