Abstract

Background: In the Netherlands, there is a very low incidence of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) due to effective preventive campaigns.

Methods: During the period September 1996 to August 2002, nationwide 161 deaths from SIDS (about 85% of all cases of SIDS during that time) were investigated by the Cot Death Committee of the Dutch Paediatric Association.

Results and Discussion: Over 10% of cases of SIDS took place during some type of child care. From a national survey carried out in 2000/01 information was available on the child care attendance of 2000 Dutch infants aged 3–6 months. Based on the hours usually spent in child care by these infants, the number of similarly aged infants that died from SIDS while attending child care was 4.2 times higher than expected. Remarkably, the prevalence of known risk factors for SIDS, such as sleeping position and parental smoking, was favourable in the SIDS cases in child care settings. The adherence of child care facilities to the safe sleeping recommendations is high in the Netherlands, and no explanation as to why child care settings may be associated with an increased risk of SIDS is apparent. The possibility of other explanations, such as stress and change in routine care, is hypothesised.