The rate of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) are continuing to go down every year.  In order to continue to help lower this risk remember to always put your baby down on his back to sleep, keep pillows and other stuffed animals out of the crib, and never leave your child unattended on a soft surface either on his stomach or back.

Researchers believe that when babies sleep on their tummies their faces can get wedged in bedding, causing them to re-breathe carbon dioxide and get too little oxygen.  A normal reaction to a lack of oxygen in the brain stimulates arousal, faster breathing and a shift of position to get more oxygen.  New research being conducted be Children’s Hospital in Boston shows that babies who have died of SIDS may have had a brain abnormality that inhibits this arousal.  The hope is that this research will lead to testing that will enable doctors to identify infants at risk for SIDS.

The more doctors, researchers and parents know about SIDS including how to prevent it, what causes it, and what makes a child more at risk the better able we will be of continuing to lower the rate of SIDS and maybe even eliminating it.

For more information on SIDS visit The American SIDS Institute.

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