Infants can sleep on their left side or right side. Sleeping on their side prevents aspiration into the airway after spitting up, and also maintains an open airway, which helps them sleep.
1. Prevent aspiration pneumonia: Infants within 3 months of age are prone to spitting up, mainly due to immature development of the pancreatic sphincter. Parents are advised to help their infants sleep on their side, either in the left side or right side position. Since the supine position, i.e. lying down, may cause the spit-up milk to enter the airway by mistake and cause choking, or even aspiration pneumonia and other problems.
2. Maintaining a clear airway: When the baby lies flat, the tongue may fall back and obstruct the airway, and snoring may occur. If the baby sleeps on his/her side, the tongue will not fall back and snoring will not occur due to the obstruction of the respiratory tract.
However, it should be noted that after 3 months of age or if the infant does not spit up frequently, the infant’s head will look better if he/she sleeps alternately in the flat position, the left side position and the right side position.