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Placing infants to sleep on their backs does not appear to significantly delay motor development. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants sleep on their sides or backs, rather than their stomachs, to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome. Parents of 351 infants recorded their sleeping positions and developmental milestones from 2 to 6 months of age. Babies who slept on their stomachs rolled, sat, crawled, and stood earlier than supine sleepers, but all tested babies developed normally, and there was no difference in ages when walking began., Background. As a result of the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendation that healthy infants be placed on their side or back for sleep, the percentage of infants sleeping prone has decreased dramatically. With the increase in supine sleeping, pediatricians have questioned if there are differences in the rate of acquisition of early motor milestones between prone and supine sleeping infants. Methods. To examine this question, we performed a prospective, practice-based study of healthy term infants. Infants were recruited before the age of 2 months. Parents were asked to record infant sleep position and awake time spent prone until 6 months of age. A developmental log was used to track milestones from birth until the infant was walking. Age of acquisition of eight motor milestones was determined, and the mean ages of milestone attainment of prone and supine sleepers were compared. Results. Three hundred fifty-one infants completed the study. Prone sleepers acquired motor milestones at an earlier age than supine sleepers. There was a significant difference in the age of attainment of rolling prone to supine, tripod sitting, creeping, crawling, and pulling to stand. There was no significant difference in age when infants walked. Conclusions. The pattern of early motor development is affected by sleep position. Prone sleepers attain several motor milestones earlier than supine sleepers. However, all infants achieved all milestones within the accepted normal age range. Pediatricians can use this information to reassure parents. This difference in milestone attainment is not a reason to abandon the American Academy of Pediatrics' sleep position recommendations. sleep position, sudden infant death syndrome, infant development, motor development., ABBREVIATIONS. AAP, American Academy of Pediatrics; SIDS, sudden infant death syndrome. In 1992, the American Academy of Pediatrics[1] (AAP) published a recommendation that "healthy infants, when being put down for [...]

A variety of influences, including perinatal, health, family, and parental factors, affect the early development of children. Usually, studies of these factors examine the effects of single factors. However, attention has recently focused on the cumulative effects of several factors, leading to the consideration of an index approach, in which the presence of multiple factors are evaluated. The relative cumulative effects of health status, which has been poorly studied, as well as perinatal complications, family background, and child rearing on development of cognitive and motor skills were evaluated in 476 girls and 510 boys. Adverse child rearing attitudes and practices were significantly associated with perinatal complications and family adversity for both boys and girls. Adverse family background was also associated with poor level of health in boys. Perinatal complications were associated with IQ and language scores in boys. Family adversity and child-rearing index were predictive of all developmental scores in girls. Health status was significantly related to IQ and motor ability scores in girls, and to motor ability scores in boys. Increasing levels of adverse factors most strongly affected IQ and language skills. The report indicates that developmental screening of children should consider the additive effects of the multiple risk factors described. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)