Read Time: 3 ½ minutes
TL;DR:
- No one is entirely sure what causes SIDS in an otherwise healthy baby, but the leading assumptions is an inability to breathe properly while asleep.
- Breastfeeding has been shown to reduce the occurrence of SIDS by over 50 percent by improving the immune system, promoting brain growth, reducing reflux and a variety of other factors.
- While six months of breastfeeding is recommended, only two months of breastfeeding is required to significantly cut the risk of SIDS.
Though deaths from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) have decreased by 60 percent since the early 1990s, the condition is still a major concern among parents of newborns. The frightening condition causes the sudden death of an otherwise healthy newborn in his or her sleep. As a new parent, it’s normal to be concerned about SIDS, but fortunately there are plenty of steps you can take to lower the risk.
What Causes SIDS?
Researchers still aren’t sure exactly what causes SIDS. The condition occurs most often between two and four months of age and decreases after six months. After six months, babies have a stronger immune system and are better at waking themselves up if they stop breathing.
Studies have found that putting your little one to sleep on his or her back and removing excess bedding can reduce the risk of SIDS. It’s believed that blankets, bumpers and stuffed animals may cause your little one to breathe in exhaled, carbon-dioxide rich air, which can cause the baby to not breathe properly.
How Breastfeeding Can Help
With studies showing that breastfeeding your little one cuts the risk of SIDS by 50 percent, routine breastfeeding is one of the most effective ways to reduce risk. Breastfeeding helps reduce this risk in several ways.
Breastfeeding Improves the Immune System
The antibodies in breast milk give your little one’s immune system a boost and can help protect your baby from getting a cold or the flu. Illnesses that affect the upper respiratory system may prevent your little one from breathing properly during sleep, causing SIDS.
Breastfeeding Promotes Brain Growth
Breast milk contains “growth factors” that help develop your baby’s central nervous system. The central nervous system is responsible for controlling breathing during sleep.
Breastfeeding Strengthens Suck and Swallow Reflexes
Your baby has to work hard to breastfeed. Coordinating the suck and swallow reflexes that breastfeeding requires helps to strengthen your little one’s reflexes and builds the oral cavity and throat muscles. Stronger muscles can help your little one’s airways stay open at night.
Breastfeeding Reduces Reflux
Breast milk is easier for babies to digest and is emptied faster in your little one’s stomach than formula. Babies who are breastfed are less likely to experience reflux, which can help keep their airways clear.
Breastfeeding Promotes Good Sleep
Though breastfeeding your little one every few hours is certainly not good for your own sleep schedule, it’s good for your baby’s. Studies have found that long periods of sleep aren’t beneficial for babies. Babies who are breastfed are more easily aroused from sleep due to needing to eat more often. Being able to arouse easily from sleep reduces the risk of SIDS.
Breastfeeding Increases Maternal Awareness
Breastfeeding your little one means you spend a lot of time with him or her. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies sleep in their parent’s room in a bassinet or crib for the first year of life. Breastfeeding and having your baby nearby can help you tune into your little one’s different cries and help alert you if your baby is in distress.
Just Two Months Makes a Huge Difference
A 2017 study by researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine found that babies who breastfeed for two months significantly reduced their risk of SIDS. Additionally, the study found that any amount of breastfeeding during the duration of the two months was beneficial.
This means that moms who exclusively breastfeed, pump their breast milk or offer their little one both formula and breast milk for two months all reduce their baby’s risk of SIDS.
Contact Ameda Direct
Giving your baby breast milk can not only give him or her a boost in nutrition and antioxidants, but it may also reduce his or her risk of SIDS. If you need to go back to work or you have others watch your little one, you can still provide him or her with breast milk by using a breast pump. Most insurance plans cover breast pumps at no cost to you. Contact us at Ameda Direct today so we can help find the right pump for you.
Related Posts
Eating Healthy While Breastfeeding
You just spent nine months "eating for two," and now that you are breastfeeding or…
Breastfeeding a Baby with Allergies
Getting Enough Sleep With A Newborn
Read time: 3 minutes TL;DR A lack of sleep and utter exhaustion from caring for…
FAQs
Breastfeeding has been shown to reduce the occurrence of SIDS by over 50 percent by improving the immune system, promoting brain growth, reducing reflux and a variety of other factors.
How does breastfeeding reduce SIDS risk? ›
Infant sleep studies have shown that breastfed infants are more easily aroused than formula-fed infants, which may be an alternative mechanism for the protective effect of breastfeeding against SIDS.
How long to breastfeed to protect against SIDS? ›
Breastfeeding for at least 2 months halves the risk of SIDS but the longer you can continue the more protection it will give your baby. Breast milk is all the nutrition your baby needs for their first 6 months of life. At 6 months you can then introduce other foods as well.
How can breastfeeding reduce infant mortality? ›
Early initiation of breast milk within an hour and exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of a child's life is critical for infant survival. Exclusive breastfeeding reduces the risk of diarrheal, pneumonia and other infectious diseases [13,15-17].
What is one proven way to reduce the risk of SIDS? ›
Share a room with baby for at least the first 6 months. Give babies their own sleep space (crib, bassinet, or portable play yard) in your room, separate from your bed. Babies in their own sleep space are at lower risk for injury and death from SIDS and situations like an adult or sibling accidentally rolling over them.
What age can you stop worrying about SIDS? ›
SIDS is less common after 8 months of age, but parents and caregivers should continue to follow safe sleep practices to reduce the risk of SIDS and other sleep-related causes of infant death until baby's first birthday. More than 90% of all SIDS deaths occur before 6 months of age.
At what age is the peak incidence of SIDS? ›
Most SIDS deaths happen in babies between 1 and 4 months old, and cases rise during cold weather. Babies might have a higher risk of SIDS if: their mother smoked, drank, or used drugs during pregnancy and after birth. their mother had poor prenatal care.
Can you 100% prevent SIDS? ›
While there's no way to completely prevent SIDS, one thing you can do to lower your baby's risk is to make sure they see their healthcare provider for all of their routine well-baby care visits. At these appointments, your baby's provider will make sure your baby is healthy and developing as expected.
Why do pacifiers reduce SIDS? ›
It may be because babies don't sleep as deeply when they have a pacifier, which helps wake them up if they're having trouble breathing. A pacifier also keeps the tongue forward in the mouth, so it can't block the airway.
Is SIDS higher in formula-fed babies? ›
Babies who are formula fed have a higher risk of death due to illnesses such as diarrhea and lung infections. Babies who are fed formula are twice as likely to die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
New estimates produced for the two-part series reveal that increasing breastfeeding to near-universal levels for infants and young children could save over 800,000 children's lives a year worldwide (equivalent to 13% of all deaths in children under two) and prevent an extra 20,000 deaths from breast cancer every year.
What does breastfeeding lower the risk for? ›
Mothers who breastfeed have a reduced long‐term risk of cardiovascular disease, 6 , 7 diabetes, 8 , 9 breast 10 , 11 and ovarian cancer. The longer the duration of breastfeeding the greater the reduction in risk of disease.
How much breastmilk does a baby need to get antibodies? ›
In fact, there is some research that indicates that even as little as 50 ml of breastmilk per day may help prevent disease in breastfed babies. Additionally, our body recognizes the importance of this protection and increases the concentration of SigA as our milk supply begins to decrease.
How does breastfeeding prevent SIDS? ›
Authors said it was unclear why breastfeeding protected infants from SIDS but discussed several possibilities, including better arousal from sleep in breastfed babies. Breast milk also boosts infants' immune systems and supports their brain development.
Why is SIDS higher at 2 months? ›
Why Does SIDS Peak at 2-4 Months? The widely accepted explanation for the SIDS peak has to do with the timeline of brain development. “Up to 4 months old, the part of the brain that controls breathing and wakefulness is under a lot of development,” Juliet explains.
What week does SIDS peak? ›
SIDS peaks at 2-4 months, is more prevalent in the winter months and typically occurs in the early morning hours when most babies are asleep, suggesting that sleep may be part of the pathophysiological mechanism of SIDS.
Why does SIDS peak at 2-4 months? ›
Why Does SIDS Peak at 2-4 Months? The widely accepted explanation for the SIDS peak has to do with the timeline of brain development. “Up to 4 months old, the part of the brain that controls breathing and wakefulness is under a lot of development,” Juliet explains.
Is co-sleeping safe when breastfeeding? ›
A sofa is not a safe sleeping place for a baby with or without a parent present as it increases the risk of infant death. Co-sleeping has the potential to benefit babies in that it supports breastfeeding and therefore a baby's health. Co-sleeping helps parents get more sleep.
Why does co-sleeping reduce SIDS? ›
In turn, your baby may be briefly woken more often by your movements. This harmony between the two of you helps to protect your baby's safety while he's sharing a bed with you.
