Hello everyone!
Today I attended the Raising Riley Community meeting. It was very interesting, particularly some information I learned about the 3 main factors that Contribute to SIDS: Environmental factors, an infants' (particularly under 6 months of age) not yet reliable autonomic system (temperature regulation, heart beats, etc.), and, there is now a little research that says that infants who die form SIDS all seem to have a small defect in their brain stem that affects a babies natural instincts in an emergency-for example, the reflex to scream when they are in danger (now as I understand it, this was only one study....so keep that in mind).
Which means that when normal babies would start suffocating, get too hot, or get stuck and scream, these babies might not be able to.
This is the first time that I have every heard evidence that SIDS is actually a syndrome and not just a term to label unexplained infant deaths. But since you can't tell if the baby has the defect until after it has died (at the moment anyway), everyone still just has to follow all the recommendations for reducing the risk of SIDS because that is all we can do for now.
The main things to remember are:
-ALWAYS lay babies on their backs to sleep (when they can turn over on their own, that is fine to let them, but still lay them on their backs, then they can roll if the want). (Also remember that when they are awake and supervised, it is important to give babies time on their tummies to work those muscles to lift their head and torso. In the field of Early Childhood Education and Development this is aptly named "tummy time").
-The MAIN things are, don't put ANYTHING in the crib with the baby (no pillows, no blankets or quilts, no devices to stop them form rolling around, no "bumpers", no stuffed animals, NOTHING) except one thin sheet tucked in on three sides and only up to the baby's chest level (or better yet, they say, just put them in warm jamies or a sleeper if it is cold and have nothign in the crib at all).
-Have a firm mattress that fits tightly into the crib and a tight fitting sheet on it.
-Don't over dress the baby for the weather (they can get too hot fast and can't do anything about it. Keep the baby's room between 68 and 72 degrees and having circulating air in the room is good (a ceiling fan or an area fan not blowing directly on the baby)
-Don't swaddle the baby past 3 months and only swaddle to mid chest and loosely enough that their temperature can be regulated. No hats inside, babies do a lot of their temperature regulating through their head and when it is covered, they can't regulate.
-Don't smoke in the house where the baby is, and wear outer clothes if you go smoke outside so you can "take off" the smoke smell when you come in and hold the baby.
-Now they are saying, also, sleep with the baby in your room but NOT in your bed.
If you want to know more you can check out this site.
