If baby usually sleeps on their back, putting them on the stomach or side to sleep, for a nap or at night, increases the risk for SIDS by up to 45 times. So it is important for everyone who cares for babies to always place them on their backs to sleep, for naps and at night, to reduce the risk of SIDS.
SIDS is more likely in babies placed on their stomachs to sleep than babies sleeping on their backs. Babies also should not be placed on their sides to sleep.
While the cause of SIDS is unknown, many clinicians and researchers believe that SIDS is associated with problems in the ability of the baby to arouse from sleep, to detect low levels of oxygen, or a buildup of carbon dioxide in the blood. When babies sleep face down, they may re-breathe exhaled carbon dioxide.
While having a baby sleep on mother's (or father's) chest whilst parents are awake has not been shown to be a risk, and such close contact is in fact beneficial, sleeping a baby on their front when unsupervised gives rise to a greatly increased risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) also known as cot death.
SIDS has no symptoms or warning signs. Babies who die of SIDS seem healthy before being put to bed. They show no signs of struggle and are often found in the same position as when they were placed in the bed.
It may be because babies don't sleep as deeply when they have a pacifier, which helps wake them up if they're having trouble breathing. A pacifier also keeps the tongue forward in the mouth, so it can't block the airway.
White noise reduces the risk of SIDS.
A relatively famous study (famous if you read a lot about baby sleep, so honestly you should be a little proud if you haven't heard of it) showed that babies had a significant reduction in the risk of SIDS if they had a fan in their room.
The peak incidence of SIDS occurs between 1 – 4 months of age; 90% of cases occur before 6 months of age. Babies continue to be at risk for SIDS up to 12 months.
SIDS can occur anytime during a baby's first year of life (it's extremely rare after 1 year of age). Although the causes of SIDS are still largely unknown, doctors do know that the risk of SIDS appears to peak between 2 and 4 months of age and decreases after 6 months.
SIDS and SUDI are rare and the risk of your baby dying from it is very low. The rate of SIDS deaths has declined in Australia due to safe sleeping campaigns. In 2017, 6 babies in every 100,000 died of SIDS. Most deaths happen during the first 3 months of a baby's life.
SIDS usually occurs when a baby is asleep, although it can occasionally happen while they're awake. Parents can reduce the risk of SIDS by not smoking while pregnant or after the baby is born, and always placing the baby on their back when they sleep.
Its exact cause remains a mystery, but a recent study in Pediatrics has revealed a possible risk factor. Researchers have found that an infant who is swaddled – wrapped tightly in a blanket or cloth with their limbs restricted – while placed on their front or stomach to sleep faces a higher risk of SIDS.
Goodstein said, when babies sleep in the same room as their parents, the background sounds or stirrings prevent very deep sleep and that helps keeps the babies safe. Room sharing also makes breast-feeding easier, which is protective against SIDS.
Deaths could occur more commonly at night in older infants because sleep is increasingly concentrated into the night. Prone sleep position could work through a thermal mechanism, so that the variables related to bedding and environmental temperature would be more important at night.
Other things that SIDS is not: SIDS is not the same as suffocation and is not caused by suffocation. SIDS is not caused by vaccines, immunizations, or shots. SIDS is not contagious.
Babies who share a bed with other children or adults. Mothers who smoke during pregnancy (three times more likely to have a baby die of SIDS) Exposure to passive smoke from smoking by mothers, fathers, and others in the household (doubles a baby's risk of SIDS)
Use a firm, flat (not at an angle or inclined) sleep surface, such as a mattress in a safety-approved crib, covered by a fitted sheet. Keep your baby's sleep area (for example, a crib or bassinet) in the same room where you sleep, ideally until your baby is at least 6 months old.
Oftentimes, babies who succumb to SIDS have had a “minor infection” in the days before death. Infants' immune systems are immature, and breast milk helps to provide necessary antibodies to fight infections such as RSV, which can contribute to inflammation and lead to SIDS. Breastfeeding promotes safer sleep.
Infants at the age when SIDS occurs quite frequently spend most of their sleep in a stage known as rapid eye movement or REM sleep. This sleep stage is characterized by the dysregulation of various mechanosensory airway and chemosensory autonomous reflexes that are critical for survival (18, 19).
The Moro reflex is the cause of your newborn baby to sleep with his arms above his head. This reflex, commonly referred to as the “startle reflex”, disappears by 6 months of age. It occurs when light or noise startles your baby, even if the noise is not enough to fully wake the baby.
There's no treatment for sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS . But there are ways to help your baby sleep safely. For the first year, always place your baby on his or her back to sleep. Use a firm mattress and avoid fluffy pads and blankets.
Even though the thought can be deeply unsettling, experts agree that there aren't any warning signs for SIDS. And since SIDS isn't diagnosed until after an infant has died and the death has been investigated, you can't catch SIDS while it's happening and stop it, for instance, by performing CPR.
Sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) is a term used to describe the sudden and unexpected death of a baby less than 1 year old in which the cause was not obvious before investigation. These deaths often happen during sleep or in the baby's sleep area. Learn more about the problem and CDC activities.
Unfortunately, according the National Institutes Institute of Health and Human Development (NIH), because there's no way to prevent SIDS it can happen anywhere, including a bassinet.