SIDS

1. What is the first thing and most important thing mom can do to decrease the risk of having a baby die of SIDS?

One of the most important things you can do to help reduce the risk of SIDS is to put a healthy baby on his or her back to sleep. Do this when your baby is being put down for a nap or to be for the night. Many parents may have been told that babies should sleep on their tummy. Now, doctors and nurses believe that fewer babies will die of SIDS if most infants sleep on their backs. But a few babies have health conditions that might require them to sleep on their tummy. If the baby was born with a birth defect, often spits up after eating, or has a breathing, lung or heart problem, be sure to talk to a doctor or nurse about which sleep position to use.

2. What is the cause for SIDS?

Doctors and nurses don't know what causes SIDS, but they have found some things you can do to make your baby safer. After 30 years of research, scientists still cannot find one definite cause or causes for SIDS. There is no way to predict or prevent SIDS.  There are however, steps one can take to reduce their child’s risk.

3. List two of the three risk factors related to SIDS:

Make sure that the baby sleeps on a firm mattress or other firm surface. Don't use fluffy blankets or comforters under the baby. Don't let the baby sleep on a waterbed, sheepskin, a pillow, or other soft materials. When your baby is very young, don't place soft stuffed toys or pillows in the crib with him or her. Some babies have smothered with these soft materials in the crib. Also babies should be kept warm, but they should not be allowed to get too warm. Keep the temperature in the baby's room so that it feels comfortable to you.

4. Why is smoking the strongest risk factor related to SIDS?

Create a smoke-free zone around a baby. No one should smoke around the baby. Babies and young children exposed to smoke have more colds and other diseases, as well as an increased risk of SIDS. The increased risk correlated with how much the mother smokes. Several studies have demonstrated that passive tobacco smoke also significantly increases the risk for SIDS. The risk for SIDS is increased, in normal birth weight infants, about two-fold with passive smoke exposure and about three-fold when the mother smokes both during the pregnancy and the baby continues to be exposed to tobacco smoke after he/she is born

5. What is the safe amount of alcohol during pregnancy?

There is no safe amount of alcohol during pregnancy. No woman should drink any amount of alcohol when she is pregnant. Drinking during pregnancy can cause a number of health problems for both the child and mother.

6. What percent is the risk of SIDS increased when a mother takes drugs?

Most babies who died from SIDS were born after normal pregnancies, from healthy mothers who were not sick and who did not use any illicit drugs during their pregnancy. Thus, exposure of the baby to drugs during pregnancy is not a cause of SIDS.
However, SIDS is the most common cause of death in infants between the ages of one month and one-year, yet its etiology remains unknown. It has been noticed that infants born to mothers who abused drugs during pregnancy (infants of substance abusing mothers; ISAM) have an increased risk of dying from SIDS compared to babies who were not ISAM. In general, the risk of SIDS in an ISAM is 8-10 times increased over that of the general population. Thus, the majority of babies who die from SIDS are not ISAM, but if a baby was exposed to maternal drug use during the pregnancy, the risk for that baby is markedly increased.

7. Why was it recommended that a baby sleep on their belly?

 A few babies have health conditions that might require them to sleep on their tummy. If your baby was born with a birth defect, often spits up after eating, or has a breathing, lung or heart problem, be sure to talk to a doctor or nurse about which sleep position to use. Some mothers worry that babies sleeping on their back may choke on spit-up or vomit during sleep. There is no evidence that sleep on the back causes choking. Also some babies at first don't like sleeping on their back. A baby can be placed on his or her stomach when awake. Some "tummy time" during awake hours is good for the baby.

8. How has that recommendation changed?
Now, doctors and nurses believe that fewer babies will die of SIDS if most infants sleep on their backs. Although back sleeping is the best sleep position, your baby can be placed on his or her side. Side position does not provide as much protection against SIDS as back sleeping, but it is much better than placing your baby on his or her tummy. 
9. What should parents do to make a crib or bed safe?

1. Make sure that your baby sleeps on a firm mattress or other firm surface

2. Don’t use fluffy blankets or comforters under the baby.

3. When a baby is very young, don't place soft stuffed toys or pillows in the crib with him or her.

10. Why is clothing a concern when it comes to SIDS?

 According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, overheating is also a SIDS risk factor. And now that temperatures are dropping and the heavier clothing and blankets are coming out, it’s an important risk factor. Instinct may make you want to turn up the heat and bundle up your baby in heavy clothes, heavy blankets, and multiple layers of clothing now that it’s colder outside. However, the American SIDS Institute warns that going overboard can increase the risk of SIDS because your baby may overheat. While adults are able to regulate their own body temperatures, infants aren’t yet able to do so and they’re more sensitive to extreme temperatures

11. To decrease SIDS should you bottle feed or breast feed?

If possible, you should consider breast feeding your baby. Breast milk helps to keep your baby healthy.

 A new review of recent research studies shows that infants who were breastfed were about 60% less likely to die from SIDS than infants who didn't receive any breast milk. This protective effect increased the longer the baby was breastfed and if the baby was exclusively breastfed.

12. Should you allow your baby to sleep in your bed?

Your newborn can sleep in a bassinet or a crib in a parent’s or sibling’s bedroom, or in the newborn’s own bedroom. The American Academy of Pediatrics 2005 Task Force on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recommend against having your infant sleep with you in your bed due to the risk of suffocation, strangulation, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The baby may be brought to the parental bed for feeding but should be returned to the crib after this is done. Important: your newborn should sleep on his or her back to reduce the risk of SIDS “Breastfeeding to any extent and of any duration is protective against SIDS,” researcher Fern Hauck, MD, of the department of family medicine at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and colleagues write in Pediatrics

http://www.claiborneone.org/help/babies.html
http://sids-network.org/experts/smok.htm
http://sids-network.org/experts/drugs.htm
http://www.inhabitots.com/too-much-warm-clothing-and-blankets-increase-sids-risk/
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/news/20110613/breastfeeding-cuts-sids-risk
http://my.clevelandclinic.org/disorders/sleep_disorders/hic_sleep_in_your_babys_first_year.aspx