Steps For Decreasing The Risk Of SIDS
Preface: I am not a doctor and claim no medical expertise. The information in this post is a collection of publicly available knowledge and statistics on the subject of SIDS.
Now that I am a parent, one of my biggest fears (if not the biggest) is SIDS. The thought of losing my son quickly and without warning makes me more uncomfortable than I have ever felt before in my life. It has kept me up nights, made me physically ill, and, at at times when I just can’t seem to get it off of my mind, affected me to the point where I simply cannot function.
I had originally planned to write this post about a month and a half ago, but because of my extreme fear, it has taken me that long to force myself to sit down and re-read all of the information I have been given on the subject since my wife and I found out we were going to become parents.
SIDS, which stands for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, is the given name of instances where a child under 1 year of age dies as a result of an undiscoverable cause. It is because of this “unknown cause” that many new parents spend countless nights worrying about their babies as my wife and I do.
Statistics on SIDS cases here in the US show the following:
- Over 2,000 babies die in SIDS cases each year1
- Babies have a higher or lower risk of SIDS based on ethnicity. For example, American Indian and African American babies are two to three times more likely to die of SIDS than Caucasian babies, while Asian babies are less than have as likely than Caucasian.2
- The majority of SIDS cases occur in children under 6 months of age.3
Scared yet? I know I am.
The purpose of this post however, is not to scare you, but to let you know that there are things you can do to help decrease the chance of SIDS occurring in your child. You’ve probably been told or read some of the tips that follow a million times. Some of them you may have never heard before, so do yourself a favor, read them… take them in… understand them… and although you still may be to scared to sleep tonight without checking on your son or daughter, at least you’ll know you’ve done what you can. And please, please, please, if you know of a SIDS prevention tip that is not listed here, send it to me or post it in the comments section for this post.
Steps For Helping to Prevent SIDS:
- Always lay your child on their back to sleep.
- Remove soft and loose bedding from your child’s crib or bassinet.
- Do not expose your child to second-hand smoke.
It is not enough to not allow smoking around your baby, as the smoke that saturates objects has just as negative an impact on your baby as smoke in the air. - Don’t let your baby overheat.
This is most important to keep in mind at night, especially if you swaddle your baby. - Reduce your child’s exposure to infection.
Make people wash their hands before holding your child. Ask that people who are sick, or were recently, stay away for a while until you can be sure they are healthy. - Breastfeed your baby if you can.
Breastfeeding helps keep your baby’s immune system strong, which helps reduce the chance of infection should your child be exposed. - Swaddle your baby.
Swaddling can help increase your baby’s comfort when sleeping on his or her back. Understand though, that in swaddling your baby you are adding layers of warmth, which can contribute to overheating, so be smart about it. - Make sure your baby sees his or her doctor for all of the suggested appointments and that he or she receives all shots on schedule.
Also do not hesitate to bring your baby to the doctor if you at all suspect he or she is ill.
Again, I would like to reiterate that I am not a doctor and that the list of tips offered in this post are a collection of the ones presented to me as well as those I have found in my research on the subject of SIDS.
1National SIDS/Infant Death Resource Center - Statistics
2National SIDS/Infant Death Resource Center - SIDS Deaths By Race And Ethnicity 1995-2001
3Baby Center - Reducing the risk of SIDS