SIDS

When you first bring a new baby home nothing frightens you more than the threat of Sudden Infant Syndrome (SIDS). You wake with a start, worrying that your baby might have mysteriously stopped breathing, and find yourself listening in the dark— eagerly, gratefully, for those tiny inhales and exhales.

Dad Jacob Colvin, together with a team of other students at Brigham Young University, has invented a baby monitor that promises to change all that. The Owlet, still in development, is a sock-like device that monitors your baby's heart rate and blood-oxygen levels, and that sends wireless alerts to your cell phone if something changes drastically. Justin Zsiros, a faculty advisor who helped select the Owlet for the top prize at the Student Innovator of the Year competition, describes it as an invention that could "really benefit our society—and bring some peace of mind to new parents."

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SIDS stories, in which babies die mysteriously while asleep give many a new parent nightmares. But there are steps you can take to create the safest possible sleeping environment for your baby — and to help yourself rest at ease. Here we’ve rounded up the key sleep recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics for preventing SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) and other sleep-related infant deaths.

1. Back Sleeping

Babies up to 12 months old should sleep on their backs. However, if your baby is able to roll from tummy to back and back to tummy, he can be left on his tummy if he rolls over in his sleep.

2. Firm Sleep Surface

Babies should sleep on a firm sleeping surface – never a chair, sofa, cushion, or water bed. Cover a crib mattress with a fitted sheet, and don’t use a crib with drop-side rails (see also: 5 Drop-Side Crib Alternatives). When babies fall asleep in a stroller, car seat, swing, or carrier, the AAP recommends moving them to a firm sleep surface ASAP.

3. No Soft Bedding or Objects

“Pillows, quilts, comforters, sheepskins, bumper pads, and stuffed toys can cause your baby to suffocate,” explains the AAP. After 12 months of age, however, “these objects pose little risk to healthy babies.” See also When to Give Baby a Pillow

4. Room-Sharing Without Bed-Sharing

Bed-sharing with your baby puts her at risk of SIDS, suffocation, and strangulation. As a result, the AAP recommends keeping your baby’s crib or bassinet within an arm’s reach of your bed. For more information on the co-sleeping debate, see 3 Reasons to Avoid Co-Sleeping and The Case for Co-Sleeping.

5. Avoid Overheating

Does your baby sweat in her sleep, or does her chest feel hot? She may be too warm. As a rule of thumb, the AAP suggests dressing your baby “in no more than one extra layer than you would wear.”

6. Routine Immunizations

While immunizations have become a hot button issue in recent years, the AAP shares that “evidence suggests that immunizations may have a protective effect against SIDS.”

7. Using a Pacifier

The AAP also recommends offering your child a pacifier at naps and bedtime, which has been shown to help reduce the risk of SIDS. Breastfeeding moms are advised to wait to offer a pacifier until breastfeeding is going well. See also Thumb vs. Pacifier: Which is Better for Your Baby?

8. Breastfeeding

Studies show that breastfeeding your baby can help reduce the risk of SIDS. (Related: 5 Tips for Breastfeeding Moms for Getting Your Baby to Sleep Without Nursing.)

9. Avoid Smoke Exposure

Keep your baby away from smoke and people who smoke. If you smoke, keep your car and home smoke-free, and of course, try to quit.

10. Do Not Use Products that Claim to Prevent SIDS

This recommendation may surprise you, but the AAP advises parents not to use wedges, positioners, special mattresses, and specialized sleep surfaces that claim to reduce the risk of SIDs. Not only have these products not been shown to reduce the risk of SIDS, but some infants have also suffocated while using them.

New parents often hover over sleeping babies to keep an eye on every breath their lil ones take. The thought of SIDS can make even a calm mom worry. A Virginia company has announced plans to sell biosensor pajamas (sort of a cross between a onesie and the Angelcare Movement Monitor) early next year. Exmobaby will come with rechargeable wireless transmitters that snap into newborns' clothes and then use wireless technology to feed detailed heart rate, emotional state, and activity level information to parents' cell phones or computers through home wireless networks. How do you feel about attaching babies to these transmitters?

Could an end be in sight for new parents fearing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)? After decades of research and thousands of unexplained deaths, researchers believe to have found a definite link between low levels of serotonin in the brain and babies who died of SIDS.

In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, scientists found that serotonin – a chemical in the brain that responds to carbon-dioxide levels to regulate sleep, heart rate and breathing in babies – levels were 26 percent lower in wee ones deemed to have succumbed to the syndrome. When serotonin levels are low, tots' brains do not detect high carbon dioxide levels and wake them to shift their position and get more oxygen.

Doctors are lauding the study, suggesting that a test could be performed at birth to determine serotonin levels and courses of treatment can then be determined for those babies deemed at risk. In the meantime, doctors are still reminding parents to place babies on their backs to sleep and to follow other preventative tips designed to keep carbon dioxide levels low around infants. Will the identification of a cause of SIDS allow you to rest easier at night?

Back to sleep! The anti-SIDS slogan, which was introduced in 1994, is so ingrained in most moms that they don't give it a second thought when putting their wee ones down for some shut-eye. Though the campaign is credited with preventing 2,000 additional SIDS cases each year for the past 15 years, doctors have determined that one in 40 will develop a flat head.

According to The Journal of Craniofacial Surgery, flat head syndrome can lead to more ear infections, which, in turn, can result in language disorders and learning disabilities. The researchers have seen a 49 to 54 percent increase in these types of ear infections. If a baby appears to develop a flat head, special helmets can help reshape the skull. To see some of our tips for keeping your tot's head round, just click here.

Did your lil one develop a flat head due to sleeping on his back?