Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 2, 1995                   TAG: 9502030010
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

GOVERNMENT SAYS SOFT BEDDING MAY CAUSE SIDS

Parents should not put sleeping babies on top of fluffy bedding, the government said Wednesday, concluding that such crib arrangements may contribute to as many as 1,800 inexplicable infant deaths a year.

A study by the Consumer Product Safety Commission found that up to 30 percent of the 6,000 babies who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome had been sleeping on top of soft materials such as comforters and pillows.

Researchers believe it is likely that the bedding covers the children's mouths and noses and that they die from carbon dioxide poisoning as a result of breathing the trapped air they have exhaled.

As a precaution, parents and others should rest sleeping infants on firm, flat surfaces; put healthy babies to sleep on their backs or sides; and avoid the use of soft, fluffy materials underneath the infant, the commission said.

Any softness should come from the babies, said Ann Brown, the commission's chairman.

``Many parents are buying soft, fluffy infant products for cribs,'' she said at a news conference. ``Such products are beautiful, but parents must remember [to] never put fluffy products under a baby.''

Officials cautioned that the two-year study in no way establishes a link between SIDS and the use of fluffy bed clothes, but that it underscores advice the medical community has offered in recent years.

SIDS is the sudden, unexplainable death of babies younger than age 1.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, which endorsed the commission's report and its recommendations, changed its policy to recommend the ``tummy up'' position in 1992.

Conventional medical wisdom since the 1930s had been that babies should be put to sleep on their stomachs.

Last June, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the SIDS Alliance and other professionals launched a nationwide campaign to advise parents to put infants to sleep on their backs or sides.

``Certainly the study reinforces the importance of not having soft things under the infant,'' said Marian Willinger, director of SIDS research at the institute. ``It doesn't do them any good.''

Phipps Cohe, spokeswoman for the SIDS Alliance, a national nonprofit organization that supports families, education and research, noted that some babies may need to sleep on their stomachs for medical reasons.

``But essentially, the recommendation that parents should never put soft, fluffy materials under a healthy baby is a solid recommendation,'' she said.

For more information, contact the SIDS Alliance at (800) 221-SIDS, or the Consumer Product Safety Commission at (800) 638-2772.