Article about SIDS
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October 20th, 2005
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Todays New York Times has an article about SIDS that’s worth reading (sorry, registration required). They are talking about how more parents today have their young children sleep on their stomach’s despite guidelines not to do so. I expected kind of a negative article but it’s balanced and makes the point that lots of parents are quietly going against the guidelines because they believe it’s better for their kids (and their selves).
When Sandra got pregnant we read a lot on the internet and also a few books. It’s common knowledge that pretty much everyone recommends your child to sleep on their back to lower the risks of SIDS. I have never been overly concerned about SIDS but I admit it has many times been on my mind. I have never lost sleep over it but often gone into my son’s room just to check if he’s breathing. He’s now 19 months old so I know it’s ridiculous but I still occasionally go into his room and check on his breathing. In my mind I have often pictured myself walking into his room and finding him laying lifeless and not breathing in his bed. I’m about as self confident and tough as it gets but this I can’t handle. I have many times cried in his room just thinking about this. Seriously, thinking about this just turns on a flood of tears. Thankfully I have the useful talent of being able to sob very quietly. It would be weird for my son to wake up and have daddy crying like hell right next to him…. Of course I can’t let Hot Wife see that I’m this sensitive. If she asks why I look like Halle Berry just broke up with me I tell Sandra it’s my allergies acting up again:-)
I know the risk for SIDS is very small. And I usually feel better when I think of how small the chances are for disaster. But not when it comes to SIDS. Just the thought of my son dying in his sleep makes me instantly break into a sweat and feel nauseous. In the early nineties doctors and pediatricians started to recommend babies to sleep on their back after studying research. Death contributed to SIDS has since then decreased sharply. The article says, " Over the same decade, deaths from SIDS fell by half, to 0.57 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2002, the most recent year for which figures are available, from 1.2 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1992, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. " That’s pretty convincing statistics. But we still don’t know why SIDS occur. There are speculations but no clear answers.
The article talks about how many parents feel awkward about telling others their child sleep on his/her stomach. But many kids are much more comfortable sleeping this way and this can of course be a great relief for a sleep deprived parent. We never had problems with Daniel sleeping on his back but if we just had two weeks of sleepless nights perhaps we would have considered sleeping him on his stomach. But for us it was never a doubt. He slept on his back and that was it. But as he got older and was able to turn he often rolled over and slept on his stomach by choice. By this time he was almost out of the risk zone so we were never worried about it.
So why are many parents using the stomach position today? Many are trusting their instincts and others feel like they have little choice. If your kid hates to sleep on his/her back it won’t work out in the long run. From article, "I’m very sympathetic to the mother who is so sleep-deprived that she puts the baby on its belly knowing that all the experts recommend not to," said Ms. Lyon, of the RealBirth center. "The role of the professional is to say ‘these are the recommendations and this is why.’ The role of the parent is to think critically and apply those recommendations in a way that makes their life manageable." Others feel that the risk is so low. It might also partly be because SIDS is less in focus now than it used to be. From the article, " The SIDS rate has dropped so significantly over the past decade that parents today are less likely to know someone who has lost a child to the syndrome." By having your child sleep on his/her stomach you are not risking a deformed skull, something that has obviously become much more common. From the article, " Now we see up to a dozen kids with asymmetric heads a week," he said (Dr. Wisoff ). "It drives parents nuts."
As my son grows older I find myself thinking less and less about SIDS. But it’s still a frightening thought. There are many disasters that can strike as kids grow up but somehow they don’t affect me as much as the thought of SIDS. Perhaps I feel like I have more control over other events than SIDS. It just seems so unfair this could happen to a sweet innocent little child.
I agonized over the whole sleeping on stomach vs. back with my youngest. From the age of 2.5 months, she would flip over onto her belly in the middle of the night. I would wake up to feed her and find her on her stomach and panic. I was sure she would die.
I spoke to my pediatrician about it. He suggested the pillow forms that keep a child in a certain position. Then she would get REALLY angry when she got stuck. I went back to the pediatrician and he said that we’ll just need to monitor her. He agreed that we couldn’t keep her from sleeping on her stomach.
She is now a perfectly healthy 8.5 month old who will ONLY sleep on her stomach. If I have another child I will still try to keep the baby on it’s back, but I am NOT going to agonize over it the way I did with her. I will probably throw out all of my books and stop reading articles about it as well as they seem to change their minds every 5 years.
SIDS is a very scary prospect and I think you hit it on the head AD when you say the feeling of helplessness about this affliction is what probably scares people second to finding their child blue and lifeless.
I have thought many times about what I would do or how I would react if anything happened to the ones I love. Like you say…I don’t lose sleep over it but it does cross my mind from time to time.
Whenever I think about these things I usually go to my wife or dusghter and give them a big hug and a kiss like I never want to let them go……and that has to be good for you.
You really did hit the nail on the head, AD. I also have terrible visions about SIDS or, for me, nightmares about him being in bed with us and smothering (even though he sleeps in his own bed). At about 3 1/2 months he started to turn over in his sleep and I really worried about it. The alternative was he would keep waking up if he was asleep on his back. I think I was lucky, though, because a few other mothers said that their babies slept better on their tummies. So after monitoring his naps on his stomach for a few weeks I finally let him sleep the whole night on his tummy (with several checks from me).
Now it’s not even an issue. He’s 7 1/2 months and regardless of how he falls asleep if he wakes up he’ll sit straight up in bed, look around, and then flip onto his belly and (usually) go back to sleep.
I like the honesty about your fears of SIDS as well as the fact that you will check to see if your kid is breathing. I recently read an article that states that Kids should sleep with Pacifiers as well becasue this greatly reduces the risk of SIDS. It sadi something about it keeps the child awake “Just enough” to prevent the Deep Sleep that can cause SIDS. Just a theory really but I thought I would share.
Man, the fear of SIDS was nerve-wracking. I can’t tell you how many times I had a mini-heart attack because I went into my daughter’s room and couldn’t hear/feel/see her breathing. Thankfully, she was born pretty big and learned to roll over at a very early age. This minimized the length of my SIDS phobia. But you know what? I think SIDS is just the first thing that we learn to worry about as parents. And it never stops from there. Now? I worry about a whole new slew of things. Is she developing properly? Does her inability to clap belie the possibility of autism? Is her cough due to a cold or a congenital heart disease?
It’s all part of parenthood. I’m not saying we shouldn’t take all these things seriously but, in a way, I think the media overdramatizes everything to the point where many people are overwhelmed by constant worry. I try to take it all in stride.
I try.
I often worried about this as well during the first few months of my childrens’ lives. Fortunately, both of my kids are side sleepers — like me. I don’t care how sleep-deprived a person is, it’s just too big of a risk — at least in the first 4 months.
Our twins are just about ready to roll over. Bri changes positions many times throughout the night and we don’t really have a plan for what to do when that happens. JT for a while could only sleep on his belly due to his nasal problems. We (okay, I) solved this by letting him sleep on my chest. That way I could get him to sleep. Once he was in a deep sleep we moved him back to his bassinet (no crib at the time).
The pacifier study that William mentioned calmed me a bit too. They both like to sleep with them so that gives me some peace of mind.
MetroDad was also right - this is just the first of a long line of worries. Welcome to parenthood!
Long after the fear of SIDS was over, I’d still go into their rooms and listen to them breathe. You know what? Now that they’re 19, 16, and 12, I STILL sometimes listen to them breathe while they sleep. Not because I’m worried any more, but just because it gives me so much pleasure. That 16 year old, who looks so much like a man when he’s awake? He’s my baby boy. The 12 year old? She’s that toddler moppet somehow, and so suddenly, morphing into a young woman. And the 19 year old? Well, she’s off at university now, but when she visits, she’s like her mother, a light sleeper. I stand by her bedside to watch her sleep, and suddenly she’s sitting bolt upright. “MOM! What is it? You scared the shit out of me!” Ha! Payback!
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