What is SIDS? This is a question sent to me by one of our readers.

SIDS stands for “Sudden Infant Death Syndrome” and it is define as the unexpected, sudden, and unexplained death of infants. It is also called the “Crib Death” or “Cot Death”.

The affected infants actually do not have any illness, or in other words, these babies are healthy. Most of the deaths according to “healthlibrary.epnet.com” happen between two and four months of age, and affected babies mostly are sleeping.

What is the cause of SIDS?

Actually the cause of SIDS is unknown yet. Deaths actually happen without any symptoms, especially that babies affected mostly are sleeping. However, some expert considered the air that the affected babies were breathing might be one of the causes of SIDS.

Consider this information from the New York Times about SIDS:

SIDS is most likely to occur between 2 and 4 months of age, and 90% occur by 6 months of age. It occurs more often in winter months, with the peak in January. There is also a greater rate of SIDS among Native and African Americans.

The following factors increase the risk of SIDS:

• Babies who sleep on their stomachs
• Babies who sleep in the same bed as their parents
• Babies who have soft bedding in the crib
• Multiple birth babies
• Premature babies
• Babies with a sibling who had SIDS
• Mothers who smoke or use illegal drugs
• Teen mothers
• Short time period between pregnancies
• Late or no prenatal care
• Situations of poverty

How to prevent SIDS?

Since we are not really sure of the causes of SIDS, so we don’t know also how to prevent it. However, a result of a study of SIDS suggested that rebreathing the Carbon Dioxide might be one of the causes of SIDS. So, to prevent the risks in rebreathing the Carbon Dioxide, they suggested to circulate the air using fans. The fans of course do not cool the air but they only let the air move, therefore, giving the babies the chance to breath fresh Oxygen.

I hope my answer helps.

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