New SIDS info

When John and I found out we were going to have a baby we immediately started to read books on raising babies to educate ourselves. In the baby world things change quickly and we wanted to know the most current information. The information we have learned and shared with others when asked why we do something, has lead to lots of opinions from friends and family members. While I can appreciate the attitude of well we've done it this way for years, why isn't that good enough? We wanted to try and follow the safest route however ridiculous that may seem to others. That way in the event that something did happen we would know that we did everything we could to prevent it.

A lot of mystery surrounds SIDS and therefore strikes fear in the hearts of many moms and dads. Because there is such little info on what causes it, it is hard to not worry about it. John and I both find ourselves getting out of bed in the middle of the night to make sure Belle is still breathing. I am sure we are not alone in this. Anyway, today I read this article and thought I would share... It still leaves you feeling a little helpless against SIDS but at least they are finally finding out some more info about what causes it. And I like the idea that they might be able to test babies to see if they are candidates for low Serotonin levels, and maybe prevent some deaths.

The following article was taken from a blog I read called The Laughing Stork by Candy Kirby

Low Serotonin Levels May Be Linked to SIDS

Researchers may have solved the mystery of what makes some babies vulnerable to sudden infant death syndrome, which kills more than 2,300 babies a year.

Turns out that, based on an autopsy study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, infants who died of SIDS had significantly lower levels of serotonin, a brain chemical that helps regulate breathing, temperature, sleeping, waking and other automatic functions, compared to babies who died of other causes.

Serotonin normally helps babies respond to high carbon-dioxide levels during sleep by helping them wake up and shift their head position to get fresh air, says senior author Hannah Kinney of Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital Boston.

When babies are placed face down, their exhaled carbon dioxide may pool in loose bedding, where it can be breathed back in, Kinney says.

Normally, babies sense high carbon-dioxide levels automatically and wake up, she says. Babies who don’t respond appropriately, however, may never wake up.

Doctors eventually hope to use their discovery to screen babies for serotonin problems and find a way to protect them, says co-author David Paterson, also of Harvard and Children’s Hospital. Those developments are still years away, he says.

If you’re wondering how this affects your baby, well, don’t throw away that silly-looking sleep sack just yet: The study confirms the importance of safe infant-sleeping practices, says Moon, who adds that babies who have normal serotonin levels could still die as a result of risky practices, such as loose bedding.

The Back to Sleep campaign, launched in 1994, helped to cut SIDS deaths in half; however, deaths have not declined further in the past decade.