Bringing a newborn home from the hospital is one of life’s greatest joys.  But along with the joy comes the responsibility of keeping baby safe, especially while sleeping.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) was a factor in over 2000 infant deaths last year according to The American SIDS Institute. Sadly, SIDS remains the leading cause of unexplained death among infants 1 month to 1 year of age according to Kids Health. So what is SIDS? Officially, it is an “unexplained infant death resulting from an unknown medical abnormality or vulnerability”. There is much information about SIDS to be found on the internet, including the latest thinking on best practices on how to keep an infant safe while sleeping. Encouragingly, the rate of deaths from SIDS is trending down but there is still far too many cases of deaths attributed to SIDS.
Safe to Sleep®-recommendations on how to reduce the risk of SIDS
Safe to Sleep® (formerly known as Back to Sleep) is a 20 year old public service campaign sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development in collaboration with other organizations.  The goal of the campaign is to educate parents on the risks of SIDS, and to provide specific recommendations on how to create a safe sleeping environment for infants. I strongly encourage all new parents to visit their website. Here’s a brief summary of Safe to Sleep® recommendations:
- Always place baby ‘back to sleep” while sleeping
- Do not use pillows, lose blankets, bumpers anywhere in sleep area
- Make sure nothing covers baby’s head
- Always place baby on a firm sleep surface or mattress
- Never place soft toys or other objects in baby’s crib or bassinet
- Never put baby in bed with you
- Never smoke in baby’s room
- Use a monitor in baby’s room
Silly Phillie® has decided to join the fight against SIDS!  A newborn baby with all of it’s beauty and potential is simply too precious to lose to something that may be prevented through education and good practices. We will announce more about our plans to help fight SIDS in the weeks ahead. Phyllis (Silly Phillie®)
