Adelaide University. Australia: Public health researchers at the University of Adelaide are hoping to
raise awareness among childcare centres of the potentially deadly
consequences of using cot mattresses that are too soft. Sudden
Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) has been linked to a number of risk factors
associated with sleep practices and environment, including the
relationship between a soft sleep surface and infant death.
In
2013, a new voluntary standard was introduced by Standards Australia and
Standards New Zealand to define a firm enough sleep surface for
infants.
However, in a study of 28 childcare centres in the
Adelaide metropolitan area, University of Adelaide researchers found
that half of the centres had at least one infant mattress that did not
comply with the standard. Of the 145 mattresses tested at the centres,
57 of them (or 39.3%) failed the minimum firmness test.
"To the
best of our knowledge, this was the first audit of its kind in the
world, and the results were both surprising and disappointing," says one
of the study's supervisors, Mr Paul Rothmore from the University's School of Population Health.
"We
know that if a sleep surface fails the test outlined by the standard,
on average it has a three times greater risk of killing a child from
suffocation.
"Given that almost a third of Australian children
under the age of two years spend time in childcare, it is important that
these environments are kept as safe as possible," Mr Rothmore says.
The
study was conducted by University of Adelaide Bachelor of Health
Sciences student McKeely Maney, who used a device outlined in the
standard to test the softness of mattresses.
"If a mattress was
deemed ‘too soft’, the centre was advised that they should replace the
mattress as soon as possible," Ms Maney says.
"Some centres also placed blankets and pillows under mattresses, propping them up, creating an uneven and unsafe surface.
"While
the results of the audit were alarming, it was refreshing to see that
many childcare centres were receptive and welcoming of safety testing,
and willing to do something about the problem once it was highlighted to
them," she says.
Mr Rothmore says: "There was a general lack of
awareness of the voluntary standard and 'softness' as a risk factor for
infant suffocation. An easy way to address this hazard would be to make
the standard mandatory, and to regularly test mattresses in childcare
centres.
If just one child's life can be saved by making a few simple changes, it would be worth it."