SIDS

[yomommasmomma]

I know that having your baby in the same room as you helps protect against sids and I believe the reason for this is that hearing your breathing helps them regulate theirs.

My DS is 4 months and sleeps in our room but we have a fan on for white noise which is quite loud so I highly doubt he can hearing our breathing.

Does anyone know, are we therefore not getting the protection of having him in our room?

I am thinking of putting him in his own room as he no longer fits in his Moses basket, he is a big baby! Thank you for your advice in advance.

I think the reasoning behind that is so when LO hears you breathing, He doesnt "forget" to breathe himself? I would put him in his own room, regular checks/monitors and he should be fine, mine napped in a seperate room from 2 months! Although guidelines are 6 months, and they are there for a reason, they are just that, guildlines.

I'm a bit sceptical about this really. My daughter is in our room but I can't hear her breathing and she won't be able to hear me as we also usually have a fan on and white noise, but there never seems to be a proviso in the guidelines that you must room share in a way that they are close enough to hear you. Even without the fan on I would doubt she can hear my breathing as she is in her own cot on other side of room.

We moved our DS at about 4.5 months as we were all waking each other up all night. You have to do your own assessment and judge if it's right for you. For us, we were all knackered (including DS), he was/is a big boy with no health issues or concern, neither of us smoke, all brand new bedding and mattress etc so felt we were very low risk. It's a hard to know what's right though.

Thank you for your replies. I really don't understand how ds is supposed to hear our breathing. He naps in his cot now so I think the time has come to sleep there too, he is so squashed in his basket. It's just so scary though and don't want to do the wrong thing.

I’m wondering this too. DC2 is due in August and I want to use white noise again as it worked well with DS1, but I don’t understand how he can hear us breathing over it?

The 2 biggest links with SIDS are the parents being smokers and the baby being put down to sleep on its tummy or side. There's also a pretty big increased risk with babies born prematurely. If none of these things are relevant to you I wouldn't worry too much. You can also get an Owlet or similar if you think that'd help you feel more relaxed.

I was told by my midwife that the idea behind them being in the same room as you is not just that your breathing helps regulate theirs, but your movement stops them getting into such a deep sleep. If you’re moving about in your sleep they can hear it and can’t get into such a deep sleep, which helps to prevent SIDS (because it also helps to make sure they don’t forget to breathe).

We kept DD in our room until 7 months. She was a nightmare from 5-7 months and woke every 3 hours but slept through (for 12 hours!) from the very first night in her own room. I think our movement must definitely have been disturbing her, but i’d still keep a baby in the same room until at least 6 months old.

I think the close proximity to the mother is a very powerful thing. It’s actually a positive thing for the baby to wake often to rootle for milk. It stops then from getting into a very deep sleep which is a SIDS risk. I had my son on my chest for part of the night when he was really little as I wanted him to be as close as possible. I moved him into his room at 6 months.

Being in the room with you and the fan help reduce the risk of SIDS. I would keep him in the room, but if you do move him get a fan for his room. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18838649

Wow that's interesting about the fan, I will certainly get him one for his own room when he moves. It seems like the link between "hearing" us breathing is more about being slightly disturbed by us and not going in to a very deep sleep. I agree that being close to mother is very good also, although the Lullaby Trust doesn't seem to recommend co sleeping.

I would just follow the guidelines

I read somewhere that it’s also the CO2 output in the room from one (or two) adults that prevents the baby from falling into too deep a sleep. And there’s definitely something true about babies instinctively waking when the mother is near. My DD sleeps without stirring when I’m downstairs but roots for milk the moment I walk near her crib and every 3-4 hours when I’m sleeping next to her.

The baby hearing you breathing is myth.

Babies respiratory systems aren't very mature and they can simply stop breathing.

What triggers breathing in people is a build up of carbon dioxide in the body - when there are higher levels of it in the blood stream triggers breathing to try and eliminate that carbon dioxide.

As adults we breathe out a lot of carbon dioxide and the theory is that if a baby is in a room where there is a higher level of carbon dioxide, they will breathe in higher levels of it, and it is this higher level that will trigger them to keep breathing.

The carbon dioxide levels in the air of a baby who is sharing a room with adults is far higher than the levels in the air of a baby who is sleeping in a room on their own, hence why they are less likely to stop breathing if they are in the same room as their parent/parents.

Our breathing does regulate a baby's breathing system but not because they can hear us breathing, but because our expired carbon dioxide stimulates their respiratory system to function correctly.

The above is what I was told anyway when I questioned why sleeping in a room with parents reduced the risk of SIDS

tbh I question this. We breathe in our sleep without thinking and during the day. A baby does not hear our breathing during sleep. I mean some sleep right through other kids making a noise and so on.