Infant sleep positioning by nursery staff and mothers in newborn hospital nurseries

Background: Although advice from healthcare professionals may influence parental infant placement choice to reduce sudden infant death syndrome risk, literature on nursery staff infant placement behaviors and the degree to which they influence maternal infant sleep positioning is limited. Objective: To assess newborn placement practices of the mother and nursery staff and their interrelationship in the hospital setting. Methods: A cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted among hospital newborn nursery staff (n = 96) and mothers of newborns (n = 579) at eight perinatal hospitals in Orange County, California. Results: Although a majority of sampled nursery staff (72%) identified the supine position as the placement that most lowers sudden infant death syndrome risk, only 30% reported most often placing infants to sleep in that position with most staff (91%) citing fear of aspiration as the motivation for supine position avoidance. Only 34% of staff reported advising exclusive supine infant positioning to mothers. Approximately 36% of mothers reported using supine infant placement exclusively. Maternal infant placement choice varied by both the advice (p <.01) and the placement modeling (p <.01) provided by staff, with the highest proportion of usual supine infant placement found among mothers who reported receiving both. A mother's race/ethnicity also affected the reception of exclusive supine placement recommendations (p <.01). Conclusions: Exclusive supine infant placement appears to be underused by both nursery staff and mothers of newborn infants. Culturally grounded educational intervention with nursery staff regarding infant positioning and placement in the hospital setting is indicated.