Though many healthcare practitioner groups have issued recommendations on infant care, a new National Institutes of Health report has revealed that many new mothers do not receive information from physicians on sleep position, breastfeeding, immunization and pacifier use.
The authors of the NIH-funded study surveyed a nationally representative sample of more than 1,000 new mothers regarding infant care advice they received from physicians, nurses, family members and the news media.
They found approximately 20 percent of mothers did not receive advice from their physicians regarding current recommendations on breastfeeding or on placing infants to sleep on their backs — a practice long proven to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.
Additionally, more than half of the mothers reported they received no advice on where their infants should sleep. Room-sharing with parents — but not bed-sharing — is the recommended practice for safe infant sleep.
"Earlier studies have shown that new mothers listen to their physicians," said Marian Willinger, PhD, of the Pregnancy and Perinatology Branch at NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. "This survey shows that physicians have an opportunity to provide new mothers with much-needed advice on how to improve infant health and even save infant lives."
For more study highlights and findings, click here.
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