The effects of sleep position in infants on fine and gross motor skill development.

Here’s a little nugget of information we’ve found online that discusses the infant “Back to Sleep” campaign.

There are published studies reporting that infants that sleep in the supine (on their back) position lag in motor skills, social skills and cognitive ability development when compared to infants who regularly sleep in the prone (on their stomach) position.

“We found that sleep position significantly impacts early motor development,” stated authors Davis, Moon, Sachs and Ottolini in an article titled “Effects of Sleep Position on Infant Motor Development.” In their study, the infants who slept on their stomach slept 8.3% more (225.2 hours) in their first six months of life than the infants who slept on their backs.

When infants or children sleep on their stomachs, they are forced to activate, use and strengthen gross motor skills in important developmental years. Using Fundanoodle‘s floor activity pads (“I Can Doodle Blank Floorpad” and “I Can Do Fun Activities! Floorpad” ) can help develop and strengthen these important gross and fine motor skills.