I saw this wonderful post on Devoted Parenting about how to reduce the risk of SIDS.
SIDS stands for “Sudden Infant Death Syndrome” which is the cause of death listed a lot of the time when babies just stop breathing in their sleep and there is no other way to explain it. It is a horrific thing for any parent to have to go through which is why I feel compelled to share the link here so that nobody has to experience this.
I noticed that one of the things Lynda listed is that if you give your baby pacifier that helps reduce the risk of SIDS in the first year of life. I believe this is a relatively new safety tip. I heard the reason for this is that when a baby is sucking on a pacifier it is giving the brain a reminder to breath at the same time.
I know that many parents don’t want to give a pacifier because they are concerned their baby will not want to give it up when they are older. For us, we did give our DD a pacifier because it helped her to sleep better at night (plus I had heard the info. about SIDS). What we did is it NEVER left the crib, she was only allowed to have while she was sleeping and it was part of our routine that when she woke up she had to drop the paci into her crib. Then when she was around 18 months old I just took it out of her crib one day and put it away and she never cried or asked for it. I’m not trying to brag for those of you who have had a harder time getting rid of it. But this is what seemed to work for us. Luckily little E is just a very adaptable baby and she accepted that it was time to get rid of her paci.
Vanessa says...
I too heard this info and I think it’s well worth the risk of having a hard time of them giving it up later to reduce SIDS!! So many babies die from this and it’s trageic for everyone involved!!
January 10th, 2009 at 10:12 am
Amanda says...
I liked reading this, I was wondering about that. I also heard that the risk of sids can be reduced by laying a baby on their back rather than their stomach, I really wonder how true this is.
Im about to be a first time mommy at eighteen and the confusion never ends.
January 11th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
PurpleGreenPops.com says...
Our little man is now 21 months old. When he was an infant, I always had SIDS in the back of my mind. One thing we did in particular was to get him to sleep on his back.
After reading this post, I realized he also sucked on a pacifier. The good thing is, when he wakes up, he likes to put it on the diaper changing table.
I’m just thankful it has all worked out for us. Thank the Lord!
January 11th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Jill says...
Amanda, I think it is very important that the baby sleep on their back. In the article I referenced it says that the cases of SIDS have been reduced by 40% since suggesting these precautions. That is a pretty big number. If you can prevent something so horrible by doing something so simple why not?
It makes sense to me that a little baby would not have the neck control to turn their head if something was blocking their mouth and nose. Especially when they are in a deep sleep.
Good luck with your new little blessing. And remember when you get overwhelmed by all the information being thrown at you “You know your baby best.” Follow your instincts and you will do fine!
January 11th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Relimom says...
I’ve heard about the pacifier tip too. I was told it helps to prevent a child sleeping on his tummy, which is a risk factor for sids.
January 12th, 2009 at 10:10 am
Veronica says...
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January 13th, 2009 at 1:19 pm