Identifying mothers' intention to place infant in supine sleep position: a population-based study

This study aimed to identify mother's opinion on infant sleep position and the factors associated with the intention to place the infant in the supine position in the municipality of Rio Grande, Southern Brazil. A standardized questionnaire was applied to all mothers residing in this municipality who gave birth to a child in the only two local maternity wards from January 1 to December 31, 2010. Chi-square test was used to compare proportions, along with a Poisson regression with robust adjustment in the multivariate analysis. The effect measure used was prevalence ratio (PR). Of the 2,395 mothers interviewed (972% of the total), 20.5% (95%CI: 18.4%-21.6%) intended to place the newborn to sleep in the supine position. This prevalence varied from 11% (95%CI: 8.1-13.7) for mothers with three or more children to 35% (CI95%: 31.1-40.2) among those with 12 or more years of schooling. After adjusted analysis, younger mothers with higher education and household income who performed prenatal care in the private system or who have had three or more children had significantly higher PR to place the baby to sleep in the supine position compared to others. Campaigns encouraging this practice should focus primarily on older mothers of lower socioeconomic level and performing prenatal care in PHC facilities.