[sophiasmum]

My DD was travelling up the cot & hitting her head which would wake her, so I used a cot bumper up that end of the cot & she was fine.

Disclaimer: I understand the risks.

This post has been edited by sophiasmum: 19/03/2012, 09:57 AM

[AvadaKedavra]

The use of cot bumpers and safe-t-sleeps is not recommended - but here's the evidence.

The absolute risk of any infant dying of SIDS is 0.8/1000 (varies a bit between population level studies but that's a reasonable average) - this equals one infant per 1250.

The relative risk of any infant dying because as a consequence of being placed on its stomach is about 2 - which means it is at double the risk of dying of SIDS. What this means in absolute terms is that the risk goes form 1/1250 to 1/625. Now, there is no study which specifically looked into this - this doubling of risk has been derived from population level studies in the US and UK following the introduction of the 'Back to Sleep' campaigns - overall, the rates of SIDS in these countries halved in the ten years following the start of the Back to Sleep campaign.

Note that parental smoking, being one of a multiple, or being the fourth child or more of the mother also increase the SIDS risk by about double for each risk factor. (There is no evidence that if you have multiple risk factors, the risks are directly additive).

But the Back to Sleep campaign involved more than just lying them on their back - it also included not using cot bumpers or pillows or fluffy blankets etc, as well as recommendations on smoking. It is actually impossible from the evidence available to determine how much each of these factors actually contributes to the increased risk. And its a study that can't be done - who would now allow babies to be randomised into the "mum start smoking and place your baby on its tummy' group of a randomised trial?! It would just be unethical.

So the short answer is that organisations like SIDS and Kids have to draw a lot of conclusions from a bunch of evidence that is not 'gold standard'. And as such, they draw the most conservative conclusions that they can - avoid anything that 'might' contribute to SIDS. This is their job.

So while I totally back the comments of fertile woman and STBG about avoiding cot bumpers and safe-t-sleeps - this is the background to that advice.

The only point I would make as a counter is that it seems that a significant portion of SIDS deaths now occur when bub has spontaneously changed position - ie rolled from back to prone. Because not all bubs get heaps of tummy time, and virtually none of them are used to sleeping on their belly, this is the time which has now become dangerous for them. So... if a product such as a safe-t-sleep stops a back lying bub from rolling - would that potentially actually prevent SIDS? I don't pretend to know the answer to that, and I don't think we ever will - again the issues of how you would actually conduct a research project into that mean that you can't.

What I would say, though, is that we all make decisions for our kids that may or may not put them at risk of various tings ranging from cuts and grazes to broken bones to death. We can't all protect our babies and children from everything... and each time we protect them from one risk, we are potentially putting them at risk of another (safe-t-sleep and a good nights sleep vs a tired mum who's gotten up 12 times overnight and still has to drive the toddler to kinder.... what's more dangerous? who knows?).

I think at the end of the day, on all issues, its important that people know the recommendations and why and how they came into being, and then do what's good for you.

For ME - a safe-t-sleep was a godsend. DS loved it form when we brought it in at 4 months when he started rolling and wriggling away. He didn't roll, or wriggle away, or end up with his head in the edge of his mattress. And he slept like a log, which meant well rested parents (who were both back at full time work 5 weeks after he was born). Would I recommend it to others? Only after telling them that it was not proven one way or other to increase ro decrease SIDS risks - but if used improperly then it could (as per SIDS and Kids).

[jindy poss]

We had this problem just over a month ago, almost drove me mad but we waited it out and he stopped doing it after about 2 weeks. Good luck.

[j-gray]

I asked a similar question when DS was doing this ... another poster said something which stuck with me "SIDS is real".

I let DS be and he grew out of it soon enough.

[cloudstreet]

My DD did this for a while, but she did eventually grow out of it.

[Logging out]

My daughter started doing the exact thing! I would always wake her up took a months for her to stop waking up, just have to be patient.

[Jenflea]

What about a cot bumper pad? Not one that goes all around the whole cot, but one like they sell at Baby's R Us which only covers the head end of the cot.
He'd have to bend in a really weird angle to suffocate or have any problems I'd THINK.
But if he's hitting the corner of the cot I can't see much else you can do.