 | | | | Related Healthscout Videos | |
|
SUNDAY, June 25 (HealthDay News) -- Is there a simple, cheap and trusted intervention that can cut a baby's risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)?
Yes, there is: The pacifier.
Text Continues Below
In fact, a recent study showed that pacifiers at sleep time reduced SIDS deaths by 61 percent. Those findings led the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to recommend the use of pacifiers in their updated guidelines on preventing SIDS.
"The evidence has been very consistent," said study author Dr. Fern Hauck, an associate professor of family medicine and public health sciences at the University of Virginia Health System, in Charlottesville, Va.
Hauck and her colleagues reviewed reports on the subject and concluded that approximately one SIDS death could be prevented for every 2,733 babies who use a pacifier when they are put to bed.
Experts aren't sure why this simple step works -- mainly because they still don't know why seemingly healthy babies can die suddenly in their cribs from SIDS.
Theories abound, Hauck said. Viruses might play a role, she said, or some babies may be born with a predisposition for SIDS. Deaths may occur if babies are waking up but cannot get sufficient oxygen because they are lying face down, or if there is a blanket or other obstacle in their way. Rather than turn their heads, gasp or cry, these babies for some reason cannot inhale the air they need, she said.
That could be why the national "Back to Sleep" campaign -- which encourages caregivers to place babies on their backs for sleeping -- has been so successful in reducing the number of babies who die from SIDS each year. However, about 2,500 U.S. infants still succumb to SIDS annually, experts say.
So, how might pacifiers help prevent the condition?
According to Hauck, they may have a direct effect on opening the airway. Babies who suck on a pacifier may also sleep less deeply and arouse more easily than infants who don't use them -- seeking the device if and when it falls from the mouth. Other experts have theorized that the pacifier's bulky handle leaves a protective airspace around the baby's nose and mouth as it lies upon the mattress or pillow.
Page: 1 | 2 | Next >>
|
.gif)
