[Revised guideline 'prevention of cot death'].

There are new insights into the pathogenesis of cot death ('sudden infant death syndrome'; SIDS). Based on these new insights, the Dutch Paediatric Association and the Dutch Child and Youth Health Care Physicians have drawn up a new guideline 'Prevention of cot death', which replaces the consensus statement of 1996. The 2 major differences from the old guideline are that co-sleeping of young infants in the same bed with the parents is now actively discouraged under the age of 4 months, and that the supine sleeping position is recommended from birth on.

[The Dutch Child Health Care guideline 'early detection of congenital heart disease in the age group 0-19 years'].

The Dutch Child Health Care guideline on the early detection of congenital heart disease was developed according to the principles for evidence-based guideline development and contains recommendations for the conduct of the examination during routine check-ups and for referral criteria. Most congenital heart diseases can be detected in the first year of life if physicians and nurses work according to this guideline. Important early times for screening are the home visit to infants at the age of two weeks by the child health nurse and the routine check-up of infants at the age of four weeks by the child health care physician.

[The guideline 'Detection of visual disorders at the age of 0-19' from the Dutch Association of Child Health Care].

The child health-care guideline 'Detection of visual disorders at the age of 0-19' draws attention to the importance of early detection of visual disorders and provides guidelines to child health-care workers for detecting disorders during routine check-ups. Children under the age of 3 are examined by the 'Early detection of visual disorders' method. Picture charts may be used for children from the age 3 onwards.

[Consensus prevention of crib death. CBO (Central Guidance Organization for Peer Review)].

The sudden and unforeseen death of a child in the first two years, usually happening during a sleeping period, is known as cot death. As cot death is a very tragic and dramatic experience for the family, it is important to reduce its incidence. In the period between 1972 and 1987, the number of cot deaths initially increased, but during the last decade a substantial reduction could be observed.