New SIDS Research

As a Gen X parent, I've had SIDS prevention drilled into my brain. Always put the baby down to sleep on his back, keep blankets and toys away from a sleeping baby, use a firm mattress, etc. When Isaac and Caleb were very young, I worried a lot about SIDS. After all, both of my kids would roll right over and sleep on their stomachs or sides as soon as I put them down (starting around 4 months).

But the latest research has found something interesting:
"What we found in this study is that if an infant had a fan that was used in the sleeping room, the infant's risk of SIDS was reduced by 72 percent compared to no fan in the room," said study senior author Dr. De-Kun Li.

Good to know! For more on SIDS, check out this Parenting magazine article. That's a very interesting read, particularly about how much the risk of SIDS goes up when the child is in someone else's care.