How does sleeping on stomach cause sids

Studies suggest that stomach sleeping may increase SIDS risk through a variety of mechanisms, including: Increasing the probability that the baby re-breathes his or her own exhaled breath, leading to carbon dioxide buildup and low oxygen levels Causing upper airway obstruction Interfering with body heat dissipation, leading to overheating 2 Whatever the mechanism, evidence from numerous countries—including New Zealand, Sweden, and the United States—suggests that placing babies on their backs to sleep results in a substantial decline in the SIDS rate compared to placing babies on their stomachs to sleep.

Changing concepts of sudden infant death syndrome: Implications for infant sleeping environment and sleep position.

Pediatrics, 3 , Carroll, J. SIDS: Counseling parents to reduce the risk. American Family Physician, 57 , Davies, D.

Cot death in Hong Kong: A rare problem? Lancet, 2 , Lee, N. Sudden infant death syndrome in Hong Kong: Confirmation of low incidence. British Medical Journal, , Sahni, R. Quality of diet, body position, and time after feeding influence behavioral states in low birth weight infants.

Pediatric Research, 52 , Kahn, A. Early Human Development, 75 Suppl. Li, D. Louis have found. Even so, the researchers caution that infants should always be placed on their backs to sleep. Thach, M. Thach and his colleagues studied 38 healthy infants aged 3 to 37 weeks. Half of the babies usually slept prone or had a history of turning prone during sleep. The other babies had never slept prone. The study is reported in the December issue of the journal Pediatrics.

After four to five minutes of sleeping face down on this surface all 38 babies awoke and attempted to get fresher air. The babies with experience sleeping prone generally lifted and turned their heads to either side when they sensed the air was stale, thereby increasing their supply of oxygen-rich air. In contrast, the inexperienced infants generally nuzzled the bedding or briefly lifted their heads and then resumed sleeping face down.

Some studies have identified that babies sleep longer in the prone position and have increased quiet sleep, which is a state of reduced arousability. Compared to the supine sleeping position, heart rate in the prone position is increased during sleep in both term and preterm babies. It has been suggested that a reduction in parasympathetic control caused by an increase in peripheral skin temperature in the prone position may underlie the change in heart rate variability.

The prone position has also been associated with lower cerebral oxygenation in healthy term babies, a finding which may underpin the reduced arousal responses in this position. When challenged with simulated reflux or postnasal secretions breathing rate was significantly reduced when infants slept prone. The supine or back sleeping position is the safest position for babies to sleep for the first 12 months of life. The Red Nose Safe Sleeping program is based on scientific evidence and was developed by Australian SUDI researchers, paediatricians, pathologists, and child health experts with input from overseas experts in the field.

Red Nose. Melbourne: Red Nose. The first edition of this information statement was posted in August View the references for this article here. Red Nose recommends: always sleep baby on the back.

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