When can you stop worrying about SIDS? It's important to take SIDS seriously throughout your baby's first year of life. That said, the older she gets, the more her risk will drop. Most SIDS cases occur before 4 months, and the vast majority happen before 6 months.
The risk of SIDS reduces after an infant is 8 months old. However, parents and caregivers should maintain safe sleep practices until a child is over a year old. The cause of SIDS is currently unknown. This makes it difficult for researchers to understand why SIDS is more common at certain ages than others.
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.
SIDS is sometimes known as crib death because the infants often die in their cribs. Although the cause is unknown, it appears that SIDS might be associated with defects in the portion of an infant's brain that controls breathing and arousal from sleep.
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.
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.
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.
Infants are sensitive to extremes in temperature and cannot regulate their body temperatures well. Studies have shown that multiple layers or heavy clothing, heavy blankets, and warm room temperatures increase SIDS risk.
As indicated above, prone swaddled infants are at greatly increased risk for SIDS 8.
It is important to make sure that your baby is a comfortable temperature – not too hot or too cold. The chance of SIDS is higher in babies who get too hot. A room temperature of 16-20°C – with light bedding or a lightweight, well-fitting baby sleep bag– is comfortable and safe for sleeping babies.
Babies can become wedged between a parent's body and the back of a couch or the arm of a chair and the weight of the adult's body can prevent them from breathing. Sleeping with your baby on a sofa also puts your baby at a greatly increased risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
The AAP recommends room sharing because it can decrease the risk of SIDS by as much as 50% and it's much safer than bed sharing. Room sharing will also make it easier for you to feed, comfort and watch your baby.
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.
SIDS is most common at 2-4 months of age when the cardiorespiratory system of all infants is in rapid transition and therefore unstable. So, all infants in this age range are at risk for dysfunction of neurological control of breathing.
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).
Do not let your baby's head become covered. Babies whose heads are covered with bedding are at an increased risk of SIDS. To prevent your baby wriggling down under the covers, place them in the "feet to foot" position. This means their feet are at the end of the crib, cot or moses basket.
This is because swallowing rate is reduced significantly, and there is no compensatory increase in arousal. The reduction in airway protective reflexes when in the prone position and in active sleep may be the mechanism for the increased risk of SIDS in the prone position.
However, the rate of SIDS remains high, contributing to almost 50 per cent of all post-neonatal deaths in Western countries and responsible for two infant deaths in Australia every week.
Most SIDS deaths happen in babies between 1 month and 4 months of age, and the majority (90%) of SIDS deaths happen before a baby reaches 6 months of age. However, SIDS deaths can happen anytime during a baby's first year. Slightly more boys die of SIDS than girls.
Results: The majority of SIDS deaths (83%) occurred during night-time sleep, although this was often after midnight and at least four SIDS deaths occurred during every hour of the day.
Babies don't have to be swaddled. If your baby is happy without swaddling, don't bother. Always put your baby to sleep on his back. This is true no matter what, but is especially true if he is swaddled.