SIDS guidelines....A question

[MrsO501]

I know that the sids guidelines state that my DS should sleep in the same room as us until he is 6 months and this is what we are doing but i just wanted to ask if anyone knows what it is about being in the same room that decreases the sids risk? Is it that you can hear the baby, or is it something else? If we are asleep and not looking at our DS then why does it make any difference that he is in our room 6 feet away from us? I am confused!

I may be wrong on this so anyone feel free to correct me, but I think some of the theory is that if the baby can hear you breathing then it subconsciously reminds them to keep doing the same. Even te slightest noises from you etc can keep them a little more alert. that's how my hv explained it to me anyway!

Thank you That's interesting. Would he be able to hear us breathing from the other side of the room though? I guess he would hear other noises from us!! I don't think I understand this one.

Yes, it's not so much to do with you hearing the baby, but the baby hearing you.

I believe one of the theories arounds SIDS is that some babies fall into such a deep sleep, their breathing stops.

That is really interesting thank you. Does the risk significantly drop at 6 months?

I think they don't know why it works just that it does .

Correlation not causation.

You stirring, moving around etc will make noise as well, just enough to stop baby sleeping really deeply.

Is there some theory about the amount of oxygen in the room? I can't remember it though, or if it's total rubbish!

Can I also ask what do people do during the early evening? My baby currently goes upstairs to bed after his bath at about 9pm and I have been so tired that I have been going to bed then too! In future I would like to sit down stairs with my DP for a hour or so. Do we need to keep DS downstairs with us until we go up and then risk him waking up when we carry him up to his moses basket? He goes to sleep so well at the moment in the dark and quiet of the bedroom, I am worried about changing his routine by having him downstairs. What does every one do?

I would stay upstairs, but plenty of people are happy to take the risk with a monitor - it's up to you. I've never had a baby that goes to sleep at a reasonable time! We tend to both sit upstairs chatting in the unlikely event baby is not screaming the house down.

I would guess the 6m mark is where they get less likely to "forget" to breathe.

We always stay with the baby when she is sleeping (we have 2 girls) - naps abs overnight until 26 weeks. We watch stuff on phones/ tablets in the evening. We do night about. It always feels like normality has returned when we sit down together in the evening after 6 months apart!

I put both of my babies up to bed from about 3 months ish at 7 and went to bed myself between 9 and 10. Just do what you are comfortable with and works for you.

Maybe I need to look into a sleepy head as not heard of this before.

This is one where technology seems to have changed expectations.

DD1 is just old enough that most people didn't have smart phones. no one I knew sat in the dark with the baby- baby slept downstairs with noises or people made peace with leaving them for a couple of hours and checking. We did both - started having a bedtime when they wouldn't sleep in the living room.

I asked this question when dd, now 12 was born. No HCP was able to tell me the reason. The problem Was that I'm a light sleeper and her constant snuffling, grunting, stirring seriously sleep deprived myself. In the end I moved her to her own room and bought an angel monitor.

We kept ds downstairs with us until 5.5 months. It was a total PITA! We'd have to whisper, creep around him and keep the tv on really low. For the first 12-13 weeks he'd just clusterfeed anyway but after that we should probably have just put him to bed tbh. The advice on this is very odd- it seems to say to parents that they should encourage their baby to sleep in a cot in a dark room to get into good sleep habitS but that they shouldn't be left on their own. The suggestion Being that you should sit in a dark room with them. IMHO that way madness lies!!

This is the problem ds is doing so well with his sleeping that I am worried about changing his routine by having him downstairs for longer. I guess we just have to make a decision

You may want to look at a Snuza Hero. It clips to the top of baby's nappy, monitors their breathing and will vibrate/alarm if e.g. breathing not detected for a certain amount of tim). We haven't used ours yet (my DS only likes to sleep on me or DH at the moment!!) but it seems to have good reviews from what I've read. Combined with a baby monitor it may solve your issue while alleviating some concerns about baby being in another room.

My ds is 18 wks he sleeps in our room but I put him to bed around 7.30 on his own and usually go up myself around 10 but we check on him regular in the meantime. Ds1 was only 8 wks when he went in his own room as we found that we were disturbing him and he slept better on his own. Personally I don't like keeping them downstairs with us in the evening I think a bedtime routine at a decent time is good for them. Do what's best for you not what everyone else does.

Thank you all for your replies, lots to think about.

A doctor friend told me around 4 months old is most common for SIDS. I think that keeping the room quite cool and not over-dressing the baby are key too. I know that being in a smoke free household - ie where no-one smokes at all ever and breastfeeding are the real biggies. I got rid of an au pair because she hadn't told me she smoked and my children were quite small so I felt it was too risky.

Marigold - I was told that too, but when I looked for supporting stats I could not find any. Did she refer to any?

I am not breastfeeding anymore unfortunately, I got mastitis and had to stop. The weather is going to be very hot this week so I think I will put a fan in our bedroom.

Good idea Mrs0501. Maybe also just leave your DS in its nappy.
I couldn't find any stats either LibrariesGaveUSPower.

I confess I never had a baby monitor despite living in a huge house, but I wake up easily.

I went to bed with my baby every night until he went into his own room at 6 months.

I'd just watch TV in bed on low volume it did not appear to disturb him.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_infant_death_syndrome

There are some that you just can't do anything about- baby being a boy, low birth weight, prematurity, age etc. IMHO smoking and putting your baby to sleep on their backs seem to be the biggies. I suppose you have to weigh up the (mercifully) tiny risks, for example sitting in a dark room for 2-3 hours every night (or dp doing this) would have driven me absolutely nuts so if ds really couldn't have slept downstairs with us in the evening I'd have put him to bed. But, we worked on him sleeping in his cot, never smoked, kept the room cool, no bumpers or excess bedding to reduce those risks.