Effect of religious observance on infants' sleep position in the Jewish population.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the effect of the level of religiousness on infants' sleep position in the Jewish population.


METHODS
A longitudinal telephone survey of randomly selected 608 2-month-old Jewish infants repeated at 4 and 6 months. Results were analyzed versus the four levels of Jewish religion observance.


RESULTS
A significant correlation was found between the level of religious practice and sleep position (P < or = 0.002). 56.8% (50/88) of ultra-orthodox parents put their babies to sleep in the non-prone position, compared with 79% (411/520) in the other three groups (P < 0.001). Non-prone sleeping decreased when infants grew. Higher parity correlated with the level of religiousness and with prone sleeping in religious families (OR = 1.15, 95% CI 1.00-1.33, P < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Jews and especially the ultra-orthodox families comply significantly less with recommendations to avoid prone sleeping. Specific measures may be required in this population that rely more on personal experience and belief than on health care provider advice.
Sivan
Y
Y
Institute of Pediatric Critical Care, Pulmonology and Sleep Disorders, Dana Children's Hospital, Tel Aviv Medical Center, Tel Aviv 64239, Israel. sivan@post.tau.ac.il
Reisner
S
S
Amitai
Y
Y
Wasser
J
J
Nehama
H
H
Tauman
R
R
D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007585:Jews; D007599:Judaism; D016684:Prone Position / Q000502:physiology; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires