Stopping SIDS: Researchers Revel As They Get One Step Close To Solving "The Mystery"

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By mia bolaris-forget

A medical "miracle" of sorts for parents as research get one step closer to solving the cause of sudden infant death syndrome or SIDS; which claims 2,300 infant lives yearly.

According to new studies, infants who suffered from SIDS showed significantly lower levels of seratonin than their peers. Seratonin is a brain chemical responsible for regulating breathing, temperature, sleeping, waking and a variety of other automatic bodily responses.

This chemical say experts typically helps babies react to high carbon-dioxide levels during their sleeping assisting them in waking up and changing their head position enabling them to get fresh air.

Infants who are placed facedown are placed at risk for breathing back in their exhaled carbon-dioxide that has been released and often pooled into the bedding.
Typically babies are able to sense high levels of carbon dioxide and wake up, but babies who lack this sensory ability may not be able to respond properly and therefore never wake up.

The study not only shed light on SIDS but also confirms the importance in following safe sleeping habits. And, experts add that even infants with adequate seratonin levels and sleep responses could be at risk for life-threatening injuries due to unsafe or risky sleeping practices such as loose bedding.
The good news is that research is now one step further to helping prevent SIDS; and that The Back to Sleep campaign, started back in 1994 has helped reduce the number of SIDS deaths by 50 percent, though they say they have yet to further decline in the last decade.

Long Island Safety Articles > Stopping SIDS: Researchers Revel As They Get One Step Close To Solving "The Mystery"