Risk of SIDS is 3 Times Greater in Daycare

Infants who sleep on their backs at home but are placed on their stomachs in day care centers may be at increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), according to a new study.

According to the report:

• Efforts to encourage parents to place infants to sleep on their backs have helped to lower the rate of SIDS in the US.
• The incidence remains high in child-care settings, however.
• Dr. Moon remarked that communication between parents and child-care providers is key.
• Researchers reviewed data on 1916 SIDS cases from 11 states that occurred from January 1995 through June 1997.
• Results show that just over 20% of SIDS deaths occurred in a child-care setting, which is nearly 3 times the expected rate of 7%, which should occur there if there were no increased risk.
• Researchers called the findings "disturbing" in light of the number of mothers in the US who work outside the home.

In 1996, there were 10.3 million women in the work force with children under 6 years old, up from 2.9 million in 1960; an increase of over 350%.

The number of child care centers in the US nearly doubled to 51,000 in 1992 from 25,000 in 1977.
In 1992 the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published recommendations to place all healthy infants to sleep on their back or their sides.

In 1994, the AAP launched a national public education campaign, Back to Sleep, which recommended that infants be put to sleep on their backs only.

Pediatrics August 2000;106:295-300.

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Dr. Mercola's Comment:

Sleep position may be important, but click here to review compelling evidence that SIDS may be related to fire retardants in the baby's mattress.

The mechanism is a common, ordinarily harmless household fungus (Scopulariopsis brevicaulis) and certain microorganisms, which consume the fire-retardant phosphorus, arsenic and antimony in the mattress plasticizer.

While doing this, they emit the heavier-than-air neurotoxic gases phosphine, arsine and stibine. Gas generation starts when mattress and bedding warm to body temperature in contact with the baby's body.

Perspiration, dribble, urine, vomit and high pH (alkaline) enable the fungus to grow rapidly. If the baby breathes a significant amount of these nearly odorless gases for a prolonged time, the central nervous system shuts down and the baby's life tragically ends.

Fortunately the simple solution which seems to have eliminated this problem in New Zealand is a mattress pad that is not made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

Another possible cause or contributing factor in SIDS is vaccinations. Dr. Jane Orient, MD, of The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) stated in US congressional hearings that:

• "Hepatitis B vaccine as a cause of sudden infant death has not been ruled out."
• "The presence of findings such as brain edema in healthy infants who die very soon after receiving hepatitis B vaccine is profoundly disturbing, especially in view of the frequency of neurologic symptoms in the VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System). Does SIDS occur on the day after hepatitis B vaccine with a greater-than-expected frequency?"
• "The data in VAERS are probably too incomplete to answer the questions. A very detailed statistical analysis and an aggressive attempt to obtain more complete information are urgently needed. Glib reassurance, based on the secular trends shown to this Committee, is dangerous."
  Dr. Orient and the AAPS are doing some outstanding and courageous work.
  

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