Real Life Stories of Child Care Providers and SIDS

Know the Law
On the first day of child care the mother of young baby requested that the child care provider place the baby on its stomach to sleep. The child care provider resisted because she knew about Back to Sleep and safe sleep recommendations, but the mother insisted that the provider comply with her wishes, and so she did by placing the baby to sleep on its tummy. Some time later the baby was found dead and the cause of death was SIDS. Fortunately, the mother of the child acknowledged that she had told the child care provider to place the baby on its stomach to sleep. Even though the parents did not put blame on the child care provider, the child care provider is now standing trial and is in danger of losing her license. The state in which this child care provider lived and worked has very good laws about sleep positioning in child care that follow the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics and so the state is able to make a case against the child care provider, even if she was simply following the wishes of the child's parents.

Moral of the story
Know your state's laws about sleep positioning in child care and be strong enough to stand your ground when parents ask you to place their child in a position other than on the back without a note from a child health care professional. There is a lot of research and literature to help you support your beliefs about back to sleep. Let it be known that you are acting in the child's best interest and the parent will eventually agree that on the back is the safest way her baby can sleep.