Pregnancy & Motherhood

Tips on Crib Safety and SIDS Prevention

Posted In: Motherhood : 1/17/2012

SIDS or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is the sudden death of an infant that is unexpected by medical history, and remains unexplained after a thorough forensic autopsy and a detailed death scene investigation.

An infant is at the highest risk for SIDS during sleep.

That is why it is very important to take all the right precautions to assure that your baby’s crib is as safe as possible. Since the onset of SIDS it has been recommended that your baby sleep on his or her back, which has decreased the number of deaths that occur. However, the number of infants harmed from strangulation or suffocation in a crib is on the rise.

Here are some important Do’s and Don’ts of crib safety:

Do’s:

Have your baby sleep on his or her back.
Keep the crib as bare as possible.
Make your home a smoke-free environment.
Keep a fan in the baby’s room. It can reduce the risk of SIDS by 70 percent.
Put the crib in the parents’ bedroom until the infant is 6 months old.

Don’ts:

Don’t overstuff the crib with full bedding, extra pillows or bumper pads. If you need to use a bumper pad, opt for a flat one.
Don’t use sleep wedges, unless your doctor recommends them.
Don’t leave stuffed animals in the crib.
Don’t overheat the baby with extra blankets.
Don’t keep the baby dressed in a skullcap.
Don’t use loose sheets and blankets. Use one tightly fitted sheet around the mattress and keep the baby in a sleep sack with a closed bottom and arm opening

It is very important to let any and all caregivers of your baby know these same rules as well.