Because Your Child Is Worth It
Oliver B is committed to increasing awareness of the threat of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (“SIDS”), the leading cause of death in infants under the age of one. Despite vast research by SIDS experts and pediatricians, the number of annual SIDS deaths has stopped decreasing year to year. However, these medical professionals are confident that this trend can be reversed if all parents followed simple steps in the care of their babies. Several of these recommendations focus on proper air circulation throughout an infant's crib and room.
Read About It
See below for excerpts from recent articles highlighting the very real threat of SIDS.
INFANT CRIB BUMPERS: WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT COULD SAVE YOUR INFANT'S LIFE
As a result of several studies conducted by well-known researchers, it has been shown that the standard crib bumper potentially traps carbon dioxide in an infant's crib, thereby increasing the risk that an infant will die of SIDS. This can occur even when an infant’s air passageways are not covered or even close to the bumper. Unfortunately, this deadly scenario has not received the publicity that it deserves. As a result, mothers around the world are utilizing bumpers in their infants' cribs under the misguided belief that they are protecting their infants. Rather, they are putting their infants in an extremely dangerous situation by failing to substantially reduce the risk that their infants will become a statistic of SIDS. View the full article.
WHY INFANTS STILL DIE FROM SIDS
Despite efforts by parents to mitigate its risk, SIDS continues to be a real threat to infants, even more so with the number of infant deaths going un-reported as a result of mislabeling. When Melissa and Rudy Haberzettl’s son Jacob was born, he was picture perfect - healthy, full-term and a great eater. Melissa, like most new moms, was determined to do everything right. Thus, she breastfed Jake exclusively, slept him on his back, never exposed him to cigarette smoke and kept all soft toys and bedding out of his crib. Melissa had heard about SIDS but wasn’t too concerned since she, along with many other parents and caregivers, believed that the only babies still dying of SIDS were the ones whose caregivers were not following the well-known safe-sleep rules. Everything was perfect until tragedy struck when Jake passed away of SIDS at just 3 months. View the full article from cnn.com.
FAN IN BABY’S ROOM MAY LOWER SIDS RISK
New research shows that young infants who sleep in bedrooms with fans have more than a 70% lower risk of SIDS than those who sleep in rooms less ventilated. Pediatrician and SIDS researcher Fern Hauck, MD, believes that the observation that better ventilation may lower the risk of SIDS is an exciting one. "We have no way of knowing which children will die of SIDS, so anything we can tell parents that might lower the risk is important." View the full article from webmd.com.
STUDY SUGGESTS FAN USE CUTS SIDS RISK IN BABIES
A new study found that use of a fan in a room with a temperature higher than 69 degrees Fahrenheit was associated with a 94% decreased risk of SIDS compared to a room without a fan. The lead researcher in this study, Dr. Ke-Kun Li, explained that fan use increases air circulation in a baby’s room that could protect an infant from re-breathing carbon dioxide. View the full article from wsj.com.
RESEARCHERS FIND CLUES TO SIDS IN BRAIN CHEMICALS
A stunning finding has brought researchers closer to finding the cause of SIDS, which appears to be related to an area of the brain that controls breathing. This further supports researchers’ theory that babies die of SIDS when they re-breathe previously exhaled carbon dioxide trapped near their airways. This study showed that the serotonin levels of babies who died of SIDS were over 25% lower than babies who died of other causes. The study theorizes that lower levels of serotonin may cause a sleeping baby to not receive a signal from their brain to move their head during sleep if they aren’t getting enough oxygen. View the full article from wsj.com.
