
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 22, 1994                    TAG: 9406220460 
SECTION: FRONT                     PAGE: A5    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE 
DATELINE: 940622                                 LENGTH: WASHINGTON

BATTLING SIDS: BABIES SHOULD SLEEP ON BACKS

{LEAD} Government and health officials launched a campaign Tuesday to encourage parents to put healthy babies on their backs or sides at bedtime to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

The incidence of SIDS, the leading cause of death in the United States for infants from 1 month to 1 year old, has dropped steeply in other countries that advocate back or side sleeping. Health officials believe the change could save at least 2,000 infants from SIDS.

{REST} ``The simple act of putting a baby to sleep on its back or side provides us the most promising intervention we have ever had to reduce the number of babies who die of SIDS in the U.S. each year,'' Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders said.

The American Academy of Pediatrics first endorsed back or side sleeping in 1992, but no promotional effort was undertaken because both the academy and the U.S. Public Health Service believed more information was needed.

The institutions decided to inaugurate the ``Back to Sleep'' campaign because 43 percent of babies sleep on their stomachs and studies have failed to reveal any adverse effects from sleeping on the back.

{KEYWORDS} SUDDEN INFANT DEATH by CNB