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Placing infants in the supine position during sleep has been associated with a dramatic decline in the incidence of sudden infant death syndrome. However, small studies based on parental reports or global screening tools have reported that supine sleep positioning might be associated with delays in gross motor milestones, perhaps because these infants also spend more awake time on their backs. Prone positioning is necessary for infants to learn motor skills that require antigravity extension (e.g., prone rolling and sitting).
Investigators in Canada compared motor skills in healthy white infants at either 4 months (71 supine and 12 prone sleepers) or 6 months (50 supine and 22 prone sleepers) of age. Two standardized tests were used to evalu…