The Ultimate Guide to Baby Sleep Safety and SIDS Awareness

The Ultimate Guide to Baby Sleep Safety and SIDS Awareness

Editor’s note: Attention all new grandparents. We know that you already realize that a lot has changed since we were young moms. As a new grandparent, we want to know everything we can to ensure the safety of our grandbabies. With that goal in mind, we are happy to share this important resource on safe infant sleep and SIDS from our friends at MomsLoveBest.com Please share with any expecting and new moms in your life.

The Ultimate Guide to Baby Sleep Safety and SIDS Awareness

Does the threat of SIDS have you losing sleep? Do you find yourself watching your baby’s every breath at night and losing out on your own sleep?

I get it. When I was a new mom, I hated to even leave the room when my child was sleeping. Although I knew the chance of SIDS happening was slight, it’s still a parent’s worst fear. One minute your child is sleeping peacefully and the next moment, they’re gone.

Before I started to imagine the worst however every time my child closed her eyes, I decided to make myself feel better by learning everything I could about SIDS and a baby’s sleeping habits.

Armed with my newfound knowledge, I felt more in control of the situation and less like a sitting duck.

I’m happy to use what I learned to help you work through your fears as well. This article will teach you everything you need to know about what happens when your baby rests its precious head.

WHY IT MATTERS

Getting enough sleep is important for all of us, but it’s especially vital for a baby. It’s when the blood supply for their muscles grows, repair and growth of tissues takes place, and the body releases key hormones for development and growth.

Sleep, or the lack of it, can impact a baby’s temperament, central nervous system and brain maturation, and even their cognitive abilities (source).

Because they are growing and developing so rapidly, babies need a lot of sleep. By the time they reach 2 years old, children will have slept 40 percent of their life (source).

A child’s sleep requirement is enormous, especially in the beginning. Here is how much sleep the average baby will need:

Until they are about two-months old, babies need from 15 and one-half hours to 17 hours of sleep per day.
By the time they reach three months old, they still need 15 hours of sleep.
From four months to 11 months old, they’ll require 12 to 15 hours per day.
Toddlers, from the ages of 1 to 2 years old, should have anywhere from 11 to 14 hours of sleep.

But, as much as sleep is needed, it’s not without risk.

Scary Statistics:

Every year, about 3,500 infants die from sleep-related causes in the U.S.
Accidental suffocation for babies has increased by 300% from 1984 to 2004.
Babies are 40 times more likely to die from suffocation while sleeping in a grown-up’s bed.

It doesn’t have to be like that however because many of these deaths are preventable. It’s hard to say how many deaths could be prevented by simply educating parents, but some experts say the risk could be reduced by as much as 50 percent (source).

But in order to trim these numbers down and save some lives, the word about sleep hazards for babies has to be spread.

SUID, SIDS And Fatal Sleep Accidents

With SIDS, a baby who seems perfectly healthy can go to sleep just like any other night — the difference is they never wake up. They die in their sleep, leaving their devastated families to wonder what happened.

But it’s most common in babies 6 months and younger – 90 percent of SIDS cases happen in this age group (source).

Those most at risk for SIDS are babies between the ages of 1 and 4 months. SIDS is only confirmed after every other possible known cause is ruled out.

Risk Factors for SUIDS/SIDS

There are certain conditions or factors that elevate the risk of SIDS and SUIDS. But before you start having a panic attack because your baby falls into one of these categories, keep in mind the overall risk is still very low.

Here are some of the factors that are believed to increase the risk for SIDS and SUIDS (source):

Premature birth
Sleep Safety
Tobacco
Delayed or Inadequate Prenatal Care
Alcohol and Drugs
Gender
Recent respiratory infection
Young Maternal Age
Failure to Breastfeed
Having Multiples
Genetics
A Room That’s Too Warm
Skipping Immunizations

What Doesn’t Cause SIDS

It can be tempting to try to link anything to SIDS, especially because of how random it appears to be. It’s hard not to wonder about what could cause a seemingly perfectly healthy baby to suddenly die.

It’s natural to want to try to find a cause for it, or pin it on some change in schedule or diet.

While you may not be able to figure out everything that can contribute to the risk of SIDS, you can safely rule a few factors out. There are some things that do not cause SIDS that parents might secretly wonder about. They include (source):

Medication: Medication is not believed to cause SIDS.
Contagions: SIDS is not contagious from child to child. Even if viruses play a small role in SIDS — which hasn’t been determined yet — most children who get viruses don’t die from SIDS. So there are other factors that account for it.
Vaccines: While many parents are leery about perceived harmful consequences of vaccines, SIDS is not caused by vaccinations. Since most infants do receive a series of vaccinations around the same time as SIDS occurs, it’s easy to understand why grieving parents might link the two. But studies have shown no spike in SIDS caused by vaccinations (source).

Commonly Asked Questions

SUID Vs SIDS Vs Fatal Sleep Incidents. What’s the Difference?
Is Suffocation Really a Big Hazard?
Does SIDS Have a Genetic Predisposition?
Do Certain Ethnicities Have Higher SUID Rates?

Sleeping should be a peaceful time for both you and your baby. You’ve worked hard to make their nursery a calming, well-decorated place for them to rest, but, unfortunately, that nursery can be a scary place at times.

There are many risks you have to be on the lookout for.

What Is SIDS?

Chances are, you know some things about SIDS already because it is a huge concern for parents everywhere. SIDS, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, is a risk for babies who are under the age of 1.

15 Steps to Safe Sleep

Now that you know what factors may increase your child’s risk of SIDS or SUIDS, you need to know what safety tips to follow so you can be proactive about making your child’s slumber as safe as possible.

There’s nothing you can do to completely safeguard your child’s health. That’s a painful truth to realize as parents. We want to protect them from everything, but we simply can’t.

The best we can do is learn all about the hazards they face and try to mitigate them as much as possible. Education really is our best bet.

But, luckily, there are some measures we can take to increase the odds they won’t end up succumbing to SIDS or other sleep-related hazards.

1. Put Your Baby on Their Backs When They Sleep, Even at Naptime

Since the American Academy of Pediatrics began recommending babies sleep on their backs instead of their stomachs in 1992, the incidents of SIDS has decreased by over half. Sleeping on their backs makes a baby less likely to get overheated and gives them a greater amount of fresh air to breathe.

Side sleeping should be discouraged until your child is old enough to roll over on their own. At that point, always start your child off on their back, but if they roll to their side, you don’t have to move them back into the back position.

Remember: Sleeping on the stomach should be avoided. Tummy time is important, but only during your baby’s waking hours while you’re supervising.

2. Don’t Cover Your Baby’s Face or Head While Sleeping

It’s essential your baby have fresh air circulating while they’re sleeping. If they have a blanket covering their face, they’ll have less access to the fresh air they’ll need. That’s a dangerous situation for a baby, particularly one that may still be a little stuffy from a recent illness.

3. Put Your Baby In a Correct Sleeping Location

Babies often fall asleep in the strangest places — that’s because they tend to sleep a large part of their day. Here are some of their favorite spots to snooze.

Cribs: A crib is the safest spot for a baby to sleep. Use a firm mattress and don’t worry about how hard it seems to you — babies have no problem with it.
Bassinet: Bassinets are fine for infants, but they shouldn’t be used for older babies. Only use them until your baby starts to roll or move around more. That is somewhere around the age of 4 months (source).
Co-sleeper: Co-sleepers are a relatively new piece of baby gear, but they seem to be just fine, provided they are used correctly.

Baby swing: Babies do sometimes fall asleep in their baby swings and moms are often reluctant to move them for fear of waking them and destroying their few minutes of peace and quiet. Doctors do recommend moving babies from the swing to their crib if they fall asleep there.
Hammock: Hammocks aren’t recommended for babies to sleep in because they could roll into an unsafe position. If you’re supervising your baby during a day nap, a hammock is fine to use, but it should never be used for unsupervised sleep (source).
Couch: Couches are never a safe option for your baby. They can roll over and fall off, and they can sink in some if the couch is too fluffy. That can cause a breathing issue.

4. Share a Room

The American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends room sharing until a baby reaches a minimum of 6 months old. But doing it until a baby turns 1 year old is even better, they say.

But a baby should have their own place to sleep, like a crib, or a co-sleeper that attaches to your bed, or a bassinet. Putting a baby in your bed is a huge suffocation risk.

5. Avoid Bed Sharing

Putting your baby n your bed may feel good to you. You’ll get their snuggles all night long an be able to keep a close eye on them. But the suffocation risk is too great in your bed.

Your blankets could cover your baby’s face, your pillows could cut off their air supply, and you could roll over on them accidentally in the night.

6. Use Safe Sleeping Gear

When selecting a crib or bassinet, it’s important err on the side of safety. Think long and hard before you buy a secondhand crib or bassinet, especially if it’s considerably old. We know a lot more today about sleep safety than they did generations ago when they made some of those items.

Any crib should have rails and it should not have a folding or drop down side. When buying new, make sure it meets any safety standards and certifications. A quick internet search will tell you all you need to know about the safety reputation of the product you’re looking at.

When you decide where to put the crib, either in your room or your baby’s nursery, keep it away from heaters, windows, and dangling cords.

7. Use a firm Mattress

The mattress you’ll use for your baby must be firm because that’s the safest option. It should fit snugly into the crib leaving little space between the sides of the mattress and the rails of the crib.

The only piece of bedding you need is a fitted sheet. It must fit tightly onto the mattress.

One of the most common mistakes parents make when setting up their child’s crib is by using bumpers. Bumpers are not only unnecessary, but they pose a suffocation risk for your child as well.

8. Leave Those Toys Out of the Crib

Keep the stuffed animals out of your baby’s crib. They may look cute, but safety is more important any day than the cute factor. At their age, those stuffed animals serve absolutely no purpose in their cribs.

9. Dress Your Baby Properly While Sleeping

Don’t keep your baby’s room too warm – they shouldn’t get overheated. Their room should be cool enough that you don’t feel hot when you go in there. A temperature of 68 degrees is good for sleeping.

10. Stop Swaddling By 2 Months

Some moms still love to swaddle their babies. Swaddling is when you wrap your baby tightly up in a blanket.

But if you do opt to swaddle your baby, you should stop by the time they are 2 months. You don’t want them rolling over and compromising their airways because they’re too tightly wrapped (source).

11. Sleep Sacks — Like Infant Sleeping Bags

Go with a sleep sack over a blanket. Swaddling with a blanket is a popular method of keeping a baby warm at night. But it’s better to use a wearable blanket like a one-piece sleeper or a sleep sack.

12. Consider Using a Pacifier

Pacifiers cut down on the risk of SIDS. But don’t attach the pacifier to your baby’s clothes while it is sleeping.

And if the pacifier falls out of your baby’s mouth while they are sleeping, there’s no need to put it back in.

13. Avoid Special Products That Promise to Cut Back on SIDS

Items like sleep positioners are unneeded and potentially dangerous. Wedges placed around your baby to help them maintain a certain position during sleep is never a good idea.

Cardiorespiratory monitors are another product touted to reduce SIDS in babies, but evidence shows they don’t work (source).

14. Twins Need Enough Sleeping Space

It can be cute to watch your twins all cuddled up together while they’re sleeping. But babies still need their own space to cut down on suffocation risks.

15. Make Sure Caregivers Are On Board

If your baby is going to a daycare, home care or staying with a relative when you go back to work, or if it’s just an occasional babysitting day, you should review the ground rules with the caregiver. That can be especially important if the caregiver isn’t a mom or if she’s an older mom, like a grandma.

Since the safe sleeping rules were changed 25 years ago, if this is a woman’s first grandchild she might not know that babies are supposed to sleep on their backs now instead of their tummies (source).

And caregivers who aren’t moms and might just be filling in for a regular caregiver may not have any idea that it even matters which position a baby sleeps in. You can’t count on anyone to know how to best take care of your baby if you don’t give them instructions on how to do it.

Pro Tip:

If the babysitting is occurring away from your home, you should ask to check out where your baby will be sleeping. Stress the importance of back sleeping, not having pillows, stuffed animals, or any other suffocation hazards near your baby.

To educate caregivers, give them printable resources or direct them to our infographic.

6 Common Myths about SIDS

Sometimes the hardest part of educating people is battling their misconceptions. There are a few myths about SIDS and SUIDS that moms should know about.

These misconceptions may prevent parents from taking the necessary steps to protect their babies. That’s why it’s so important to dispel them.

Myth: Vaccines Cause SIDs

Myth: Laying On Their Back Increases a Baby’s Risk of Choking

Myth: Hooking Babies Up to Monitors Will Prevent SIDS

Myth: You Need to Reposition Your Baby to Their Backs If They Move

Myth: Putting a Baby on Their Back Is Enough to Stop SIDS

Myth: Parents Can Hear SIDS Happening and Prevent It

The Bottom Line

From the moment you find out you’re pregnant, your life will never be the same. You’ll be filled with worry about your baby’s safety, and one of those concerns will undoubtedly be SUIDS.

The traditional separation between a child’s room and a parent’s room has been evolving in recent years. As a parent, you need to look at your lifestyle, anxiety levels, and decide for yourself what will work best for you and your baby.

While room-sharing of some sort is an option, you can also have a perfectly safe baby if they have their own nursery.

Read over your options and do what feels right for your particular situation. And, as a parent, you should never feel the need to justify your decisions to anyone.

Did worries about SUIDS influence your sleeping arrangements with your baby? Please share this article with any soon-to-be mom in your life.