Preventing SIDS

For all you new moms out there.

Is there a simple, cheap and trusted intervention that can cut a baby's risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)?

Yes, there is: The pacifier.

According to Hauck, they may have a direct effect on opening the airway. Babies who suck on a pacifier may also sleep less deeply and arouse more easily than infants who don't use them -- seeking the device if and when it falls from the mouth. Other experts have theorized that the pacifier's bulky handle leaves a protective airspace around the baby's nose and mouth as it lies upon the mattress or pillow.

AAP recomendations for preventing SIDS include:

1. Put infants to bed on their backs,
2. Only use firm sleep surfaces and keep soft objects, such as pillows and heavy blankets, out of the crib,
3. Give baby a smoke-free environment both before and after pregnancy,
4. Keep baby in the parents' bedroom, but not in bed with you,
5. Don't allow baby to get overheated. Infants shouldn't feel hot to the touch.

(By Meryl Hyman Harris HealthDay Reporter)

I followed each of these guidelines. Until this day, my kids kick off any blankets that I put on them. They are so used to not using them. I would just use the "Back to Sleep" zip up blanket on them when they were little. Now, in the winter I put on them in sweats.

My little one never used a pacifer, she still sucks on her first two fingers. She'll be 2 in October. I'm trying to break her of this. When I see her when her fingers in her mouth, I ask her to remove them. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I don't want her sucking on them anymore because they are now kind of crooked. Oh well I'll keep trying.