Foam in mattresses causing cot death???

[Ghosty]

Hi,

I have just had a really interesting day ... I went to the Auckland Parent and Child Show (leaving DS with DH so that I could have a good browse) and found myself talking to a Dr Jim Sprott... anyone heard of him?

What he told me really shocked me and has made me think and and I wondered what everyone else thought of this...

Dr Sprott claims that there is one reason and one reason only for Cot Death and that is the levels of poisonous gases that are found in baby's cot mattresses and bassinet mattresses (foam and sprung ones) - they are phosphine, arsine and stibine. These gases apparently are formed by the action of common household fungi and the elements of phospherous, arsenic and antimony found within the mattress.

He says that the ONLY way to eliminate cot death is to buy mattresses that are free from the above elements (virtually impossible) or to wrap your baby's mattress in polythene before putting the bedding on.

I was a little shocked that this man was so adamant that this was the only way to prevent cot death and told him so as I had been led to believe that no one had yet been able to find a definite reason for it, but he says that he is 100% sure and can prove it.

He reckons that

a) you should NEVER put a baby on sheepskin (contains some dangerous chemical)
b) Breastfeeding does not prevent cot death
c) Smoking does not cause cot death
d) When you wrap your mattress in this polythene that he markets you can put your baby to sleep on his side or even on his tummy and be sure that he will not die by cot death.
e) That sleeping your baby feet to foot does not prevent cot death ...

The only way to prevent cot death is to wrap your baby's mattress in polythene thereby stopping these lethal gases from escaping ... according to Dr Jim Sprott.

I asked him why I had never heard of this in the UK and he said that the reason mattresses have these lethal levels of gases is because of the UK government and that they have been covering it up for years ...

I said that that was a very serious thing to say and he agreed it was and said that he is very unpopular with the British and NZ governments.

People here do buy his product but he says that you can buy polythene from any shop (it has to have cerain specifications) and wrap the mattress with it ...

I wondered whether anyone has heard of this ,what should be, IMO, ground breaking information (if it is correct) and what you think ... Is he right or is he mad?

[Clarinet60]

Bundle, could you give me the title of the BMJ article? Can't find it in the web version and have tried loads of key words. Thanks.

[Clarinet60]

Bundle don't worry, I found it in the printed version today. It was mostly about getting a new mattress for each child, in case accumulated urine/milk/etc changed & increased the microbial environment. They suggested that this might overload an already ill baby with too many bugs.

[Ghosty]

Soupdragon - sorry for the delay in answering your question ... The information from Dr Sprott's leaflet says: 'About 500 cot deaths have occurred in New Zealand suring the years 1995 to 2000 inclusive, but there has been no reported cot death among the many tens of thousands of babies who have slept on mattresses wrapped to the 'Cot Life 2000' specifications'

[Clarinet60]

Have a look at the electronic version of BMJ (bmj.com) this week. A paper on SIDS does seem to have found a link with using previously used mattresses (this research will be subjected to more peer review yet, but...) and Dr Sprokett (sp) writes a compelling letter in the Rapid Responses section.

It may turn out to be bunkum, but I'm beginning to think that I'll cover the mattress with a few layers of sheets, just in case. Probably won't be as effective as the plastic he suggests, but you never know. His isn't the only letter of agreement. There will be other dissenting voices following, no doubt. It will be interesting to keep an eye on this.

[SueDonim]

Droile, I know someone who sells the covers in the UK. LMK if you're interested.

[Clarinet60]

Yes suedonim, thanks. It can't hurt.

[SueDonim]

Droile, I've got the info now but I don't really want to put the person's email addie on a public site. Maybe Mumsnet can pass on a message - do you know how to contact them about it, cos I don't!

Anyway, my friend has some standard 120cm x 58cm covers (various depths) for GBP10 each and one moses basket for GBP8. She's also given two contacts Pharmacy2u

[SueDonim]

And CotLife2000
(can't seem to put more than one link into a message, sorry) HTH.

[Clarinet60]

Thanks sue, that's fine

[bundle]

droile, sorry I didn't get back to you, been offline for a while. I'm a journalist so I get a press release from the BMJ every week..the stories then appear in the press usually on the Friday when the embargo is lifted..sorry for raising your hopes prematurely but glad you found the stuff eventually.

[Clarinet60]

Hi bundle. It's OK, I read the electronic version most weeks for work and it found it's way in there eventually.