All About Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
SIDS or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is the leading cause of death in infants from one to 10 months of age. It cannot be predicted and normally affects seemingly healthy babies, being most prevalent in infants two to four months of age.
Since the "Back to Sleep" campaign rolled out in 1994, SIDS have dropped by about 50 percent, but there are still about 2,500 annual deaths from SIDS in the U.S. alone.
Although the exact cause of SIDS is still unknown, statistics clearly show that placing an infant to sleep on his/her back is one of the most important factors in reducing the risk of SIDS. Stomach sleep has up to 12.9 times the odds of baby dying from SIDS as back-sleep. Even though babies tend to wake more and cry more during back sleep, they are sleeping more safely.
SIDS Parent Education
Stomach sleeping (and side-sleeping) make an infant harder to arouse and more likely to overheat. SIDS parent education programs emphasize that stomach sleeping causes the infant to re-breathe exhaled air and therefore increases carbon dioxide levels and causes babies to have more apnea. Since 1992, The American Academy of Pediatrics has advocated placing infants on their backs to sleep, referencing its importance in reducing SIDS.
Susan Sorensen, MD, a pediatrician in Reno, Nevada, is emphatic: "It's non-negotiable," says Dr. Sorensen. "When a parent tells me that her baby 'won't' sleep any other way but on its stomach, I literally can't listen…When parents insist that an older child slept on his stomach and was 'fine,' all I can say is, 'You were lucky.'"
Over-Heating and Infant Apnea
Betty McEntire, PhD, Executive Director, American SIDS Institute when asked ‘but my baby doesn’t like sleeping on his back. Can’t I let him sleep on his stomach?’ replied:
“It's hard to know for sure what babies like since they can't tell us. However, babies do tend to cry more when placed on their backs. In fact, for many "hard to soothe" infants, placing them on their stomachs does seem to calm them and help them fall to sleep. Also, babies wake less when on their stomachs and it takes more stimulation to wake them than when they are on their backs. Another thing we know is that tummy-sleeping infants retain more heat than when on their backs.
"But should parents give in and place their little ones on their tummies? They should certainly not!
"Infants are more likely to have apnea (pauses in breathing) when on their stomachs. They are also more likely to re-breathe the air they have just exhaled, which can raise their levels of carbon dioxide. The increased retention of body heat can also be dangerous for some infants.But more convincing than any other fact is that belly-sleep has up to 12.9 times the risk of death as back-sleep.”
The Guardian sleeper has been SIDS institute and hospital tested. It has been pediatrician, obstetrician and mom approved. It meets all the criteria for safe sleep as outlined by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the "Back to Sleep" program.
