American Academy of Pediatrics releases new guidelines for parents to prevent SIDS

NEW YORK (WABC) -- The American Academy of Pediatrics released new recommendations on Monday for reducing the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, otherwise known as SIDS.

According to new research, one of the main new recommendations is to have skin-to-skin time for an hour immediately after the baby is born.

Skin-to-skin time has been found to be associated with a decreased risk of SIDS and known to promote breastfeeding, which is a strong recommendation to protect against SIDS.

The new guidelines also include the finding that vaccines may actually decrease the risk of SIDS by up to 50%.

As always, infants should always sleep on their backs on a firm mattress with no soft padding or objects that could pose a suffocation hazard.

Safer sleep practices have already decreased the cases of SIDS dramatically since the 1990s.