How Can We Lower Newborn Baby’s Risk Of SIDS?
How can we lower newborn baby’s risk of SIDS?
In order to help lower your baby’s chances of SIDS and other sleep-related deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it’s very critical that all of your baby’s caretakers, including relatives, babysitters, and childcare providers like nannies and daycare employees, follow these standards.
In daycare settings, around 15 to 20% of SIDS deaths occur. This is an astonishingly high figure given that newborns sleep less at daycare than they do at home. This data emphasizes the importance of ensuring that everyone who cares for your kid follows safe sleep habits for newborns.
To lower the risk of SIDS, do the following steps:
a. Place your baby on their back to sleep.
This is one of the most crucial things you can do to safeguard your child. Sleeping on a baby’s belly instead of their back increases their risk of SIDS by two to thirteen times. When a baby sleeps tummy-down, they are more likely to overheat, have pauses in breathing and fewer arousals, and rebreathe the less oxygen-rich air they have just expelled.
b. Don’t sleep in the same bed as your infant.
It has been linked to an increased risk of SIDS, as well as unintentional asphyxia, strangling, and entrapment. For at least the first six months, and ideally for the first year, your infant sleep in your room at night, but not in your bed. Place your baby’s crib, bassinet, or play yard next to your bed in your room. This arrangement has the potential to reduce the risk of SIDS by up to half.
c. Keep your baby’s sleeping area clear.
Allowing your infant to sleep with soft bedding, crib bumpers, loose blankets, plush animals, or pillows is not a good idea. They have the potential to cause asphyxia, strangulation, or trapping. Use a swaddle or sleep sack if your infant need additional layer of warmth.
d. Sleep on a firm mattress.
Place your kid on a firm, flat mattress with simply a fitted sheet below. (A thin, tight-fitting mattress pad can be used under the sheet to prevent diaper leakage.) If your baby sleeps in a play yard or bassinet, simply use the included pad – no additional cushions or padding.
e. Do not overheat your baby.
To be comfortable in that setting, dress your baby in no more than one layer over what an adult would wear. Sweating, moist hair, or a heated chest are all indicators of overheating.
f. Avoid putting your kid in a car seat, stroller, swing, or bouncer for extended periods of time.
This is especially critical for babies under the age of four months. If an infant sleeps in an inclined position, they risk suffocating. If your baby falls asleep in one of these items, move them as quickly as possible to a crib, bassinet, or play yard.
g. Avoid exposing your baby to cigarette smoke.
According to studies, a baby’s risk of SIDS increases with the number of smokers in the family, the number of cigarettes smoked around them each day, and the length of time exposed to cigarette smoke.
Even if the newborns weren’t exclusively breastfed, a meta-analysis found that babies who were nursed for at least two months lowered their risk of SIDS in half. Breastfeeding for more than two months enhanced the amount of protection.
i. When it’s time to go to bed, give your baby a pacifier.
Studies reveal that infants who use pacifiers have a decreased risk of SIDS, however doctors aren’t sure if this is a direct cause and effect. Because of this link, recommends that giving your infant a pacifier for naps and nighttime throughout the first year of life – as long as your kid loves it and it’s a safe pacifier that isn’t tied to your baby’s clothes or stuffed animal.
