New mothers get a lot of advice, but when it comes to key issues of infant health and safety, some moms hear surprisingly little from doctors, a new study shows.

The study, published Monday in Pediatrics, does show moms get more advice from doctors and nurses than from family members and the media on vaccinations, breastfeeding, pacifier use and sleep safety. Advice from health professionals also is more likely to match recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

But in the nationally representative survey of more than 1,000 mothers of infants, 75% said they heard nothing from doctors about pacifier use and more than 50% said they heard nothing about where babies should sleep – for example, in their own cribs or in parents' beds.

About 20% reported no doctors' advice on breastfeeding or how infants should be positioned for sleep. And 11% said doctors offered no advice on vaccinations.

"The amount of 'no advice' we found was a little surprising," says lead author Staci Eisenberg, a pediatrician at Boston Medical Center. "We know that advice matters. We know from previous studies that mothers getting advice from more sources, and more correct advice, changes behavior."

The pediatrics group has stances on all of the issues covered in the survey. For example, it says babies should always be put to sleep on their backs and should sleep near parents, but in their own cribs or bassinets, to lower risks of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The group recommends breastfeeding for a least a year and says pacifiers used at nap and bedtime can lower SIDS risks.

When doctors do give advice on those issues, it usually matches those guidelines, mothers reported. But there were exceptions: 26% heard differing advice on sleep positions and 29% heard differing advice on sleep location.

For more information on this article by Kim Painter, please see this link: http://www.usatoday.com/story/...tor-advice/30634057/