Parents should place infants on their backs to sleep, should not share a bed, and should avoid exposing the infant to tobacco smoke. Apparent life-threatening events are not a risk factor for SIDS.
Bed sharing with a parent is strongly correlated with an increased risk of SIDS, especially in infants younger than 12 weeks. Prone and side sleeping positions are significantly more dangerous than the supine position. The most important risk factors relate to the sleep environment. The incidence of SIDS has decreased more than 50% in the past 20 years, largely as a result of the Back to Sleep campaign. Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the sudden unexpected death of a child younger than one year during sleep that cannot be explained after a postmortem evaluation including autopsy, a thorough history, and scene evaluation.
