How do I reduce the risk of SIDS?
Well, the biggest thing you can do to reduce the risk of SIDS happened in the late '90s with the "back to sleep" campaign, and this is when we started putting children to sleep on their backs only. Again, the instances of SIDS probably decreased by greater than 50 percent since the "back to sleep" campaign so back to sleep sleeping is the best way. And they used to say side sleeping was okay as well, but we've really gotten away from that because in some children, on their side, by accident rolled on to their stomachs so we just want to avoid any type of stomach sleeping. Now, parents get concerned; "Well, on their back, what if they spit up, or they vomit, won't they choke, and then that would cause more problems?" and actually when they looked at this, that's not the case. If your child spits up or vomits they're going to turn their head. There were no increased incidents of risk based on that. So back to sleep, and sleeping on the back is the most important thing. Other things you can do to prevent SIDS: sleeping on a firm mattress so you don't really want a cushy, pillowy mattress. You want to not overbundle so you really shouldn't have any loose blankets or pillows in the crib 'til after one year of age. The American Academy of Pediatrics also recommends being careful about co-sleeping because parents may roll over on the child. Now recent studies have actually shown a benefit with pacifier use at nap and bedtime because this probably keeps the child in a more aroused state or a more easily aroused state. One additional thing that will reduce the risk of SIDS is avoiding smoking in the home, and even second-hand smoke. And there has been no correlation between vaccines and an increased risk of SIDS.
