SIDS

When can mummy stop worrying about SIDS? After how many months?


My baby boy is 2 months old now. The absolute manner to put him into deep sleep is on his tummy. He is able to lift his little head to change sides. But I'm still worried.

SIDS generally occurs in infants between 1month - 1 year old however it is most common between ages 2 - 4 months. You should sleep baby on his back and placed at the bottom of the cot tucked in although in reality most babies will start to move around - I know my son as soon as he could would roll over onto his tummy but if they can lift their heads and you follow the guidelines for a safe environment then you should try not to worry too much. Check out any of the websites regarding SIDS for more info and remember as a mum there is always something to worry about but as long as you provide them with a safe and loving environment you should feel reassured that you are doing everything you can.

SIDS usually occurs in the first 6 months of life. The most important way to protect a baby from SIDS is to place your baby on the back to sleep. Babies who sleep on their back and safer and healthier. If babies vomit, they are more likely to choke if sleeping on their front.



The back sleeping position is twice as safe as the side and six times safer than the front for a baby. Many research studies have now shown this.



At some point babies learn to roll over on to their front. When your baby can roll from back to front and back again, on his own, then leave him to find his own position. At the start of any sleep time, put him on his back. Babies settle more easily on their backs if they have been placed to sleep that way from the very beginning. If your baby won't settle, keep trying.



Well Baby Clinic 2849 1500

Matilda International Hospital

Hong Kong

http://www.matilda.org

Hi Matilda, it is almost impossibe to get my precious to sleep soundly on his back. His arms throw up in shock several times when he is put on his back to sleep. I think the problem is that when he came home, he kept falling asleep on our chests, so he got used to that position. I have tried several times, but no success.

My bubs was always being startled like your and I've been told that this is very common. Bubs is 8 months old now and occasionally he gets startled by some noise. Have you tried swaddling him as this will make him feel more secure and snug.

Take all bumpers and loose stuff out of the cot. My son is 18 months old and from the start we have only ever used a mattress made of breatheable matterial and a think cotton fitted sheet over it. No toys. At first he was swaddled (works great) and then he went into a baby gro. This is how he still sleeps today.

germaine WS,


agree with the above posts. if your child is not able to roll on his back yet, the safest way to sleep is still on his back. i feel that it is an unnecessary risk to take putting him on the tummy.


like mrs m said, you also want to make sure the cot is empty save for his mattress and fitted sheet until he is much older.


if you have trouble settling your child on his back, the startling problem is a very common one that a tight swaddling should be able to settle. but i just want to add that i was worried about the swaddle coming loose and my child suffocating with it so when he was still in our room initially, he was swaddled and we changed to a grobag once he slept in his own room.


good luck, it takes time to settle a baby to sleep at 2 months so do try again and don't give up.

Swaddle Swaddle... We swaddled until 5.5 months when baby could roll over. Baby sleeps well, and on their back. It might take a few days to get used to it, and although baby might seem to struggle they will sleep better and therefore be happier in long run.


We have a few different 'swaddle blankets' and there is only one he could not get out of:

http://www.miracleblanket.com/


We now use it on our newborn and it still works perfectly :)

I'm with crj. Our baby is still swaddled at night in his Miracleblanket (it is a miracle!). He's a right little Houdini, and gets out of everything except that. It helps with the Moro startle reflex, and makes him cozy and secure. I'm actually wondering when to stop using it, he's almost 4 mos. now.

hi cri, where can i buy the miracle blanket in HK? I tried the website but they only ship within canada and united states. Thanks

matilda hospital, i have been told by a paed that sleeping on his tummy reduces the risk of choking and infecting the ears and nose from the choke.I am really quite confused and helpless as my precious simply won't settle on his back.

Dani - we stopped when baby could roll over.


Germaine - I recall mothercare once had it, or check the classifieds, or maybe someone here has one you can borrow or (illegally) copy?

thanks cri. Will keep trying.

Germaine


I do not know who your Paed is but I think you need a second opinion. The school of thought from professionals for a long time now has been that putting a baby on it's back reduces the risk of SIDS significantly. I understand that a lot of the research done by SIDS organisations has even led them to HK which apparently has the lowest rate of cot deaths in the world. I was told this by a professional here and she even told me that HK does not even keep a record as cot deaths are virtually non existant here.Apparently studies made atributed it to the fact that HK'ers put their babies on their backs.


Anyway, as a poster above mentioned your baby is flaying it's arms and legs when put on her/his back. This is a natural reflex, called the moro reflex and to your baby it feels like free falling. Swaddling a baby makes them feel as if they are still in the womb (all bunched up) and is very comforting to them. You should red "The Happiest Baby on the Block" by Harvey Karp for more info (this book helped me loads).


If you are a little unsure and confused about all this and you have a bit of spare cash why not buy a couple of "sessions" with a reputable expat mid-wife/ health visitor. I know of a couple in HK who are qualified ladies and I engaged the services of one when my baby was born. They cost about HK$500 an hour. You can get discounts for say 5 sessions. I used to get her round once a week for an hour and get her to show me things and go over things I was doing. It really helped. If you need to know any names/ recommendations drop me an email. It took me ages to learn how to swaddle and in the end my husband became a dab hand at it and he took it upon himself to be swaddle guru. It made him feel very special. We called our son "our little enchilada" for ages as he looked so cute all swaddled up.

Germaine,

Bumps2Babes had the Miracle blankets in when I was there a few days ago.

Hi Mrs Miggins,would be great if you could give me some recommendations.

Germaine, I can relate to your fears. Unfortunately, it's a neurological thing and we can't breathe completely easy until our babies are a bit older. If you have major fears that are keeping you from getting a good night's rest, you could talk with your pediatrician about getting a study for sleep apnea and a monitor for your baby. But just take assurance that most babies are perfectly fine and the incidence of SIDS is, in fact, extremely low. There is some speculation that some deaths attributed to SIDS are also, actually, cases of child abuse or intentional (as awful as this sounds) that the parents cover up by claiming it was SIDS. So really, try to rest your fears a bit. I agree 100% that swaddling will help with the startling reflex, this really helped with my firstborn who was quite a startler and would wake herself up from a deep sleep this way (and who at age 20 is still high strung and still has a hard time settling). I hope you can find the bag that Dani recommends, but if you haven't yet, you can swaddle baby with just about any cloth that is in the house. If you don't already know how, get an older mom to show you. (Basically, a baby blanket is just about the right size: put them on it facing upwards, with head pointed towards a corner and near the top, then fold the bottom corner up over the feet tightly, then fold one side of the triangle over their body tightly and wrap it tightly around the other side tucking it underneath, then secure fold the last side of the triangle across their body the other way, tucking it around underneath as well.) Anyway, though, let me tell you something that puts it all a bit in perspective. My mom told me that when I was a baby, the prevailing wisdom was that babies HAD to be put to sleep on their tummies! The idea way back then was that if they spit up in the middle of the night, it would run out of their mouths instead of choking them. And nowadays, in the USA, it's not uncommon to hear of a baby who gets a warped skull from being laid flat on their back so much. So, if he does sleep on his back, make sure he has plenty of "tummy time" during the day. My mom suggested to me that I put my babies to sleep on their side, which always seemed very comfortable to them, avoided either back or tummy "issues". Anyway, the long and the short of it, in my view, is that you have to do what seems to work best for you and your baby, bearing in mind all the safety issues. There is some evidence that if a baby has the neurological issues associated with SIDS (that the nerves making them breathe somehow tend to stop firing during the night) you can help simply by touching them, and by keeping them close to mommy at night. So, I always put mine close to me where I could easily reach out and touch them during the night and make sure they were breathing. Which, I assure you, I did wake up, touch them to stimulate their nervous system just a tiny bit, and reassure myself that they were breathing!

;-) I also think I rememember that babies whose mothers carry them in slings and "wear" their babies have lower rates of SIDS, and reading some theory that this sensory (neurological) stimulation of being with their mommies all the time was good for them. I'm not disputing the evidence that babies on their backs have lower rates of SIDS. But there are lots of variables and I think the conclusions may be overdone and too sweeping. For instance the evidence that HK babies have lower rates of SIDS could simply result from the fact that there's a different gene pool or from the fact that most Asian mommies in fact put their babies in bed with them. And, for instance, there was a widely published conclusion by the American Academy of Pediatrics a few years ago that SIDS was much higher among babies who slept in bed with their parents, but I remember reading the study and thinking #'s of SIDS babies sleeping with parents directly with #'s of SIDS babies not sleeping with parents, ignoring the fact that in the USA probably ten times as many babies sleep separately than sleep with), and the study had (significantly) not eliminated things like parents who were drunk (etc) or babies who were sleeping with siblings. So really, go with your best judgment and rest assured that the chances of SIDS in a loving household with conscientions parents and a normal, full term baby are extremely remote.

For a Midwife, try Annerley Midwifes - they advertise on this site. Louise is wonderful as are they all.

http://www.amidwife.com


We just had our second baby and bought another package of 5 home visits.

OP, the fact that you give a hoot about SIDS and are willing to take steps to reduce the risk means that you are already reducing those odds in the first place. Well done.


I have another suggestion for you. I may come across as a little paranoid about SIDS but I actually know someone in the UK whose 3rd baby passed away in cot death. It was very, very sad.



One thing I did from a very early age was to do alot of strengthening exercises with my baby. I read somewhere that the sooner your baby can hold it's head up and move it's head from side to side, the lesser the risk of SIDS. This really hit a nerve with me and I was vigilant in doing tummy time with my boy and I also did another set of exercises. I used to put my boy on his back and pull him up very slowly by his forearms. This looks a bit scary as his neck used to fall back a bit but these are neck strengthening exercises. As a result my boy could hold his head up on his own at 6 weeks old. You may want to search these on the internet.


P.s. Germaine you got mail!

Meiqoren, thanks for your encouraging words, they certainly gave me some reassurance. I am so worried because my baby sleep so soundly on his tummy but very lightly on his back. So I feel like i'm depriving him of a good sleep when I insist on putting him on his back. I purchased the miracle blankets and I hope they will be the answer to his strong moro reflex situation.


crj, will also look up the website which you recommended. Thanks alot.

Germaine - the miracle blanket is hard to use the first few times, but it gets to be easy after a few times. We joked it was time for the baby straight jacket :)

The first few nights, you might want to swaddle him (with miracle blanket) and be with him (holiding him, etc...) to sooth him until he is almost asleep... as it will be a new sensation for him.

But I swear that after a while our #1 used to lay there relaxed as we swaddled him as he knew it meant sleep time!


Mrs Miggins - we did the same with ours, and he was an early crawler, early walker and very strong (not sure if it is related or not to the 'exercices' - we just did it because it was fun and something to do with him :)

Ha ha crj! Our ped. said the same thing when he saw it, looked like a straightjacket (we had our little guy in it about a week old, at his first appt.) He's loved it ever since. I worried that my husband would wrap it too tight, but our baby loved it and looked like a little grub worm, cute!! He's almost too long for it now, but he likes the coziness of it.


Thanks for letting me know when you stopped using yours. I'm sure he'll be rolling soon, he's a strong little boy. MrsMiggins, we do the same thing and he turns his head alot now too.


Any luck GermaineWS with the blankie?

crj have u been to any of the tuesday mornings at Annerley Midwives? THere is a baby massage course which I am considering to attend. Will appreciate some feedback.


Dani R, i have to purchase the miracle blanket from the states, so it is on its way now. will update once i have tried it. Fingers crossed!

i have just received the miracle blankets and have already wrapped my little guy for his afternoon nap. So far so good. I am surprised that he did not struggle at all when wrapped! he hates that his arms are "locked" but wrapped in the blanket, he seems so comfortable. It really is a miracle!!!

Dani- gotta love the straight jacket, we joked we would be swaddling until he left for university, but once he rolled over, we stopped and we just put him in pajamas (no grow bag), I was worried he wouldn't sleep well, but he slept just fine and we still go in to see him every night before we go to sleep and marvel at the positions he gets himself into!! Baby sleep gymnastics/yoga.


Germaine - I am really really bad at leaving the house, that is my biggest 'motherhood' problem... But Louise teaches the massage course and she is great, she has shown me some things at home and we still use them on our 15 month old and just started on our newborn. We use grapeseed oil (citysuper).

crj, i have not left the house since coming home with the baby from hospital. The only good thing out of "not leaving the house" is all the money saved from not shopping! BTW, my little man slept for 2 str. hrs, woke up for an hr of tummy time plus feed and is now asleep again!

That's great news Germaine, yeaaa!! Thank goodness for the straigh jacket, erm..miracle blanket! ;) sounds like your little one is doing well. Now that the weather is getting warmer, I've had our bubs into a bag, he was getting pretty sweaty in his swaddle. But, he's almost at the point of rolling over now, too.


Now when he's arms free asleep, it's so funny. His arms are raised above his head like he's saying "don't shoot!" Crj, I'm starting to find him in all different areas of the crib, it IS a marvel to see how they scoot around!

dani R, my little man has the same position when he was one month old, it was his fav. sleeping position. ;-)


Sadly, the gift of the miracle blanket only lasted for a day! this morning, when i tried to swaddle him for his morning nap, he was in rage! needless to say, I could not get him to nap at all. Became overtired and it was all hell break loose! He is now so caught on with chewing his left fingers that he just would not allow me to hold his arms down for the swaddle. Any advice would be great!

try a half swaddle (from armpits downwards) or try the grobag. i read your other thread, your baby is obviously discovering his fingers, let him.

Why not try this, it worked for us. We followed Harvey Karp's 5 S's


1) Swaddle your baby


2) Pick him up and hold him on his side e.g. so his face is pointing toward you


3) Shushing - make shushing sounds "shhhhh, shhhhhh"(like he hears in the womb)


4) Swing him i.e. rock him from side to side


5) Sucking - possibly give him a dummy


Actually we just did the first 4. Another thing which worked for us (honest, it did) was to do the above whilst playing Mark Knoffler's (Dire Straits lead singer) Shangri-la album (or other Dire Straits will do!). My husband read about this in a book (that Mark's voice was so deap and relaxing that babies love it!!)



Here's Harvey Karp's website


www.colichelp.com/shop/happiestbabyontheblock.html


This is aimed at colic, but also works for settling babies in general.

Deborah from Annerley Midwives visited us on Friday and my baby has been on a program since. His problem is diagnosed to be "parents dependency" for sleeping, hence now we are putting him back into his own room, in his cot bed to sleep. So far, there has been some progress, the time from putting him into bed to finally getting him to fall asleep has shortened from 1.5 hours to 40 mins tonight. Fingers tightly crossed! He is still waking up in the middle of night, so no progress yet on that front.


But I feel guilty that i leave in sleeping alone. Does anyone have similar experience? I actually find myself not really sleeping as I am afraid that I may not hear him.


Mrs Miggins, I have bought the "The Happiest Baby on the Block" , it's really a great book. Just wished I have read it before the arrival of this little man. The "shhhhh" technique really works wonder!


I too only used the first 4 S's, not keen on giving him a dummy. He sucks on his little fist for a while to calm himself.


Thanks alot for all the great advices and encouragment. I am tired but hanging in there!