- It was sleeping only on their backs. No toys or stuffed animals in the crib. No fluffy pillows or blankets. If a thin blanket, only one of breathe- able cloth. No crib bumpers. To wear a lite weight sleeper sewed closed at bottom, for a blanket.
- Ahhhhh here it is!
Silent Threat: SIDS
Sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, is the unexplained sudden death of a child under 1. SIDS is the leading cause of death in infants between 1 month and 1 year of age, with about 3,000 babies dying from SIDS each year in the United States. “SIDS these days is decreasing,” Dr. Jim says. “But more and more kids are dying from asphyxiation, strangulation, things like that, so we need to do something about the crib environment.”
For the best environment for your infant, Dr. Jim explains his dos and don’ts of crib safety.
Dos
• Have your baby sleep on his or her back.
• Keep the crib as bare as possible.
• Do not overheat the baby with extra blankets.
• Keep a smoke-free environment.
• Put a fan in the room. This can reduce the risk of SIDS by 70 percent.
• Put the crib in the parents’ bedroom.
• Breastfeeding may lower the risk of SIDS.
Don’ts
• Don’t overstuff the crib with full bedding, extra pillows or bumper pads. If you need to use a bumper pad, opt for a flat one.
• Don’t use sleep wedges, unless your doctor recommends it.
• Don’t leave stuffed animals in the crib.
• Don’t keep the baby dressed in a skullcap.
• Don’t use loose sheets and blankets. Use one tightly fitted sheet around the mattress and keep the baby in a sleep sack with a closed bottom and arm openings.
• For steps to prevent SIDS, check out Dr. Jim's blog!
Steps for Preventing SIDS
It’s so important to make the crib environment safer for a baby. It’s really important because, while sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) deaths have dropped dramatically since the recommendation to have infants sleep on their backs, rising numbers of infants are harmed from suffocation or strangulation in the crib!
Never purchase an antique or used crib or bassinet. There could be missing hardware that causes it to collapse. Some older cribs have cutouts in the headboard or footboard, which is not safe because baby’s head can get trapped. Also, older cribs may not meet current safety standards.
Check slat spacing. The slats in a crib or bassinet should be no farther apart than 2 3/8 inches. If you can fit a can of soda through them, the opening is too large.
Make sure the mattress fits. Put your baby to sleep on her back on a firm mattress that fits tightly into the crib. There shouldn't be any cracks or openings between the crib and the mattress because a baby can get trapped in the smallest of spaces. A full-size crib has an interior surface of 28 inches by 52 inches. The mattress for a full-size crib should be 27 1/4 inches by 51 5/8 inches, and no more than 6 inches thick. If you can place more than two fingers between the mattress and the crib frame, the fit isn't snug enough and there's a risk of head entrapment.
No blankets, pillows or stuffed animals. Don't wrap your baby in blankets or comforters when he's in the crib. He can quickly become entangled and might not be able to free himself.
Safe sleepwear. Baby’s pajamas should fit snuggly and be made of flame-resistant fabric. There should be no drawstrings, ribbons or anything else that might catch on something. Buttons and snaps should be firmly attached to avoid becoming a choking hazard. Remember that babies can quickly overheat, so they sleep in lightweight clothes with the thermostat set at a comfortable 70 degrees.
No sleeping with a bottle. Bottle nipples suffer from wear and tear over time and a small piece can break off and get caught in a baby's throat. Sleeping with a bottle or cup can also cause tooth decay and lead to ear infections.
Use the proper sheets. If a sheet isn't the correct fit, your baby may pull it up and become entangled. Test the sheet by pulling up on each corner to make sure it doesn't pop off the mattress corner.
Ditch the bumpers. Crib bumpers are cute, but it's best not to use them. They need to be tied down with string, which is a potential hazard if not properly secured. If you do use a bumper, choose one that is thin, firm, and made of mesh, not one that is puffy or padded.
Use the crib correctly. Don't lift your baby over the side of the crib without dropping the side first, or you'll be showing her how to escape. Also, be sure to raise and lock the sides as soon as your baby is in the crib.
Always put your baby to sleep on his back to minimize the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and “rebreathing,” a sometimes fatal circumstance that can occur when a baby is sleeping on his stomach or trapped in soft bedding. As a result the child "rebreathes" his own carbon dioxide rather than breathing in oxygen-rich fresh air. The lack of oxygen can cause death.
Finally, don’t forget to share these points with all your child’s caregivers (babysitters, daycare workers, grandparents, etc).
-Dr. Jim
For more from this episode, click here.
Things to Remember in Baby Crib Bedding
All parents are becoming very aware when it comes to their infant’s safety. Being a little over protective is not negative, it’s unreasonable to be extremely overprotective. For instance, when it comes to crib safety.Those bumper pads and comforter, they could cause accidents especially when babies are left alone. Comforter may lead into suffocation while bumper pad cords, if left unsecured, may get the little one entangled.
Swaddling blankets and baby sacks will do to protect your baby from being too cold. As a general rule, you should consider a wearable blanket
These parents should know that pediatricians always recommend to use less sheets or just actually bare crib bedding. Crib sheets are better to be bought first than those expensive unnecessary accessories. Choose high quality and comfortable crib sheets that can possibly resist all types of leaks for bottom? Elastic all the way around the sheet to keep it on is a good idea. This way, one side won’t pop up causing a hazard.
April 22, 2009
Five products not to buy for your baby
New parents are quick to jump on any product they think will make life more comfortable for their baby—and easier for themselves. But some items present safety risks we don't believe are worth taking. Here are five that we think you should skip:
Bedside and other co-sleeping devices
Although sleeping with a baby in an adult bed is a common practice among some cultures, it can be dangerous. The new bassinet-like devices designed to go in between parents or alongside an adult bed don’t necessarily make co-sleeping with a baby safer. One popular Simplicity bedside sleeper/bassinet was recalled after two babies died from strangling or suffocating when they slipped through an opening in the frame.
Currently, safety standards don’t exist for either co-sleepers or bedside sleepers. Until they do, we think the safest place for your baby to sleep is in a crib.
Baby bath seats
Each year, an average of 10 babies drown while using baby bath seats. Nearly all of those deaths occurred when a parent or caregiver left the baby unattended momentarily. The problem is that these seats, intended to make it easier to hold the baby in the bathtub, can give parents a false sense of security. It’s better to use an infant bathtub for bathing and never, even for a second, leave the baby beyond arm’s reach.
Sleep positioners
These devices are intended to keep infants on their back in a secure sleeping position. But the youngest infants, for whom these are designed, are not able to roll over from their backs on their own, which makes this product unnecessary. The soft foam in the sleep positioners can pose a suffocation hazard and our medical experts don’t recommend them.
Crib bumper pads
Designed to prevent bumps and bruises, crib bumpers can create their own hazards. One study found 27 cases of infant death involving bumper pads or similarly padded bassinets. Most of the deaths occurred when the infant became wedged between the bumper and another object or when the infant’s face was against the bumper.
And since bumper pads cannot be safety secured to cribs with solid end panels and should not be used with toddlers who can stand, we think it’s best to avoid them altogether.
Sling carriers
Over the past five years, at least four babies died and there have been many reports of serious injury associated with the use of sling-type carriers. The incidents include skull fractures, head injuries, contusions and abrasions. Most occurred when the child fell out of the sling. As slings grow in popularity, so do the number of serious injuries. No safety standards exist for slings. We think you should skip the sling and opt for other types of infant carriers, which have safer track records. (Image note: The CPSC recalled 100,000 Infantino slings in 2007.)
April 29, 2009
Readers respond to advice on unsafe baby products
For 73 years, Consumers Union has not been afraid to tackle controversial subjects. Our recent blog post “Five products not to buy for your baby” is no exception. Its aim was to highlight the unforeseen risks that certain products may pose to babies, not to give parenting advice. But clearly we struck a nerve with mothers who extol the benefits of “baby wearing” and “bed sharing” (as The New York Times noted). We are not disputing the benefits of either.
But based on many of the comments we received on the blog posting, it’s clear that there’s a lot of misinformation being bandied about. Knowing the facts will help all parents make the best decisions for their babies.
Research conducted by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Consumer Product Safety Commission shows that infants younger than eight months old who are placed to sleep in adult beds are as much as 40 times more likely to suffocate than if they are placed to sleep in cribs. Even when researchers provided a more conservative estimate by eliminating all deaths from parents physically overlying an infant and then doubled the estimated number of infants who may be put to sleep in adult beds, the risk of fatality from bed sharing was still 20 times greater than that of infants who sleep in cribs. The study was published in Pediatrics, the peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The practice of bed sharing with infants is increasing, but so too are the numbers of unintentional suffocations and strangulations of babies less than a year old. Carrie Shapiro-Mendoza of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that the rate of accidental strangulation and suffocation of infants increased from 2.8 to 12.5 per 100,000 live births between 1984 and 2004. Although the increase in deaths can’t be directly related to co-sleeping, the quadrupling of the infant death rate is alarming. Deaths can occur when a sleeping parent rolls over on top of a baby, when pillows or other soft bedding obstruct the baby’s breathing, when blankets or sheets get wrapped around a child’s neck, or when a child becomes wedged between the mattress and the wall. We think modern beds consisting of soft pillow-tops or memory foam mattresses may exacerbate the problem. And we don’t think that co-sleeping products make the practice much safer.
Despite the number of cribs recalled in recent years, we still strongly believe that infants are safest when put to sleep in a “bare” crib—one without any soft bedding such as quilts or bumpers and preferably a crib with stationary sides.
Blog readers also commented on sling carriers. Although they have been used for many years, centuries in fact, we believe that today there are better and safer alternatives to slings that achieve the same level of close contact. Soft front carriers such as the BabyBjorn or the Snugli provide the same benefits as slings and have a lower risk factor.
Slings can be very difficult for some people to tie, position and wear securely. Not all are intuitive and it’s easy for caregivers to get them wrong. If they do, the consequence can be dire. Many of the injuries associated with slings happen when the baby falls out of the carrier or bangs his head against a hard surface, say a door frame. There’s also a risk of positional asphyxia, which occurs when a baby is curled up in the sling and the head is pushed so far forward that the airway is closed off.
It may be possible to make sling carriers that don’t pose safety risks and that are not as easy to use incorrectly as many currently on the market. We’ll reserve our judgment until an adequate safety standard can be developed for these products.
Shocking Facts
ABC Detroit
"Is Your Mattress Toxic?"
May 13, 2008
"This could be our greatest toxic disaster ever."
There's a lot of double talk in the mattress industry, but there's no chemical-free systems that pass this test.
But the CPSC admits that some of the toxins are absorbed by the body every night. And a review lab hired by the agency found serious flaws in its methodology.. questioning how the CPSC could simulate a lifetime of exposure.. the lab also questioned how the CPSC scientists decided on a higher maximum daily dose of antimony than other government agencies allow. It's proven you're going to absorb a daily dose that's 27 times more than the EPA says is safe.
All new mattresses must survive this baptism by fire. Even crib mattresses. Many of those also contain boric acid, even though the boric acid label says "keep out of the reach of children." Yet the CPSC's risk assessment specifically excluded babies and toddlers.
Royal Oak toxicologist Dr. Michael Harbut says if you have a waterproof mattress pad - or plastic -- on your bed - you can minimize your exposure to these chemicals.
(Dr. Michael Harbut/Toxicologist) "Until we really know for sure that they're completely safe, it's probably a good idea to be prudent. Put on a waterproof mattress pad, seal up the mattress, be safe - don't sleep on a bare mattress."
The only way to get a new mattress without any flame retardant is by prescription. If your doctor or chiropractor prescribes a chemical-free bed, some companies can make them for you.
Meanwhile, even if you ask, manufacturers and retailers are *not* required to tell you if your mattress has toxins inside.
Is your mattress toxic? Click here to find out!
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