What age does risk of cot death reduce?

[mower]

Just wondered, ds coming up to 1 year old, but I still worry and wake in the night feeling like I am constantly opening or closing window!!

[Kelly1978]

I thought it was 6 months.

[CountTo10]

I think the older they get the more it drops which sounds like a really obvious thing to say but part of it is related to the developing of the lungs and being able to control their own breathing. Its also about them having the physical strength to move themselves about so that if they move onto their face and that starts to interfere with their breathing, they could move themselves into a different position. We used an angel monitor with a panel that went under the cot which we only stopped using at about 10 mths and that was only because ds was moving about so much that he kep moving off the panel and setting the alarm off!! I would say that a year the risk is a lot lower than at 1 mth say. That worry takes a lot longer to go though - ds is nearly 2 and I still worry when I wake in the morning to find that he's still asleep!!!

[Astrophe]

I think it falls after 6 months, then falls drastically after 1 year, then disapears after 18 months or 2 years...if I remember correctly (which I may not). But at 1, the risk is fairly low. HTH

[Olihan]

I was under the same impression as Astrophe, my hv definitely said it's at its peak at about 2 months then starts falling, with the same reasons as Countto10 gave. Doesn't stop me panicking when they oversleep in the morning though, and they're almost 13 months and 2.8!!

[FillyjonktheBananaEater]

i read some research recently that put it at 4 months, which was a big relief.

it argued that a lot of SIDS is caused by immune system failure, and that this rectifies itself by about 4 months. Will try to dig out the article if anyone is interested.