Recently I’ve been thinking about SIDS and sleep. About 3,000 babies a year die of SIDS in the US, and with the US birthrate at about 4 million a year, it puts the chances at about .00075.
That’s pretty small, but new parents are terrified of SIDS. Since the early 1990s, there has been a huge “back to sleep” campaign to make sure babies are put to sleep on their backs, something that’s been shown to reduce the risk. REDUCE the risk: babies can still die of SIDS on their backs. It’s still a mystery.
A lot of people I know have parents who say their kids slept through the night no problem from a very young age, and I think (if it’s true) much of it is due to the fact their babies slept on their stomachs.
Some babies don’t have a problem sleeping on their back, but many do: the startle reflex keeps waking them up, and they thrash around and can’t go back to sleep. I am convinced if Jack could sleep on his stomach (or even his side) he’d sleep much better. We used to swaddle him, which helps some, but at this age he busts out and also he now sucks on his hands for comfort so I don’t want to keep his hands hidden. The swaddle doesn’t help with his leg thrashing, either.
I’ve been reading some bulletin boards and find that a lot of people still put their babies to sleep on their stomachs, and people act like it’s like a dirty little secret.
I’m still pretty afraid of it, but I have to admit I am hoping Jack will start sleeping on his side on his own. He can roll from front to back, and I’ve seen him go almost all the way from back to front, so I’m sure he’ll be able to do it soon. Most of what I’ve read says if your baby is turning him or herself over, not to do anything about it; don’t restrain them or wake up to move them.
The risk is so small, but it’s just one of those mental mindgames. “What if it happened, I’d never forgive myself,” “A few months of sleep deprivation is better than risking it,” etc. But if we applied that kind of logic to the rest of our lives, we’d never step into a car, or go near a swimming pool.
I’d like to see some stats that compare the rates of babies sleeping through the night since the “back to sleep” campaign started, and prior. I bet there were a lot more well-rested parents before then!
