NEW YORK, Mar 06 (Reuters Health) - Although experts say infants should sleep on their backs in order to cut their risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), results of a new study show that in many US hospitals, nurses place newborns on their sides to sleep.

While this side sleeping is "acceptable," it may send the wrong message to new parents, researchers warn.

In a 1998 survey of Iowa maternity hospitals, investigators found that 90% used either the back or side sleeping position for newborns. To get at the underlying reasons, they surveyed the hospitals again in 1999 and found that for the most part, nurses put newborns on their sides because they worried the infants might choke if they vomited during sleep.

But in the March issue of Pediatrics, researchers question how "authentic" this fear is. Moreover, parents may imitate what they see in the hospital and possibly increase their babies' risk of SIDS, according to Drs. Herman A. Hein and Stephanie F. Pettit of the Iowa Department of Public Health in Des Moines.

In 1994, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other organizations issued guidelines that advised parents and health professionals to put infants to sleep on their backs or sides. Stomach sleeping is believed to increase the risk of SIDS--a leading cause of death among infants aged 1 month to 1 year.

However, in 1996, the guidelines were changed to promote back sleeping in particular. Although side sleeping was still considered "acceptable," the guidelines warned that infants could roll over onto their stomachs from the side position.

In fact, Hein and Pettit report, some studies have linked side sleeping to increased SIDS risk--from two to four times higher compared with back sleeping.

The authors note that they are promoting back sleeping in the hospital not because of SIDS risk, since the danger is "exceedingly low" in the first few days of life. Instead, they write, "we believe that the use of (back sleeping) in the hospital is important to illustrate how the infant should sleep at home."

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