Sids: What is it and why is it linked to flat head?
SIDS or cot death is a fear that every parent carries within themselves after discovering its existence. The impossibility of intervening is precisely what scares mothers and fathers the most.
However, there are some precautions that can be taken to minimize the risk of SIDS. In addition, by continuing to read you will discover what connects it to the most common problem in newborns: flat head.
What is Sids?
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is also known as crib death.
It consists of the sudden death of a child between one month and one year of age that remains unexplained after a thorough medical investigation.
According to statistics, SIDS occurs with a higher incidence between the second and fourth month in the winter period .
There are rare cases after the sixth month and almost no cases around the age of one.
Hypotheses on the causes of cot death
As we have said, the death is still unexplained to this day. However, according to the American CDC , the cause could lie in anomalies in the brain area that controls the rhythms of sleep and wakefulness .
Furthermore, they propose a triple risk model of events leading to SIDS:
- The child apparently suffers from a small anomaly in the system regulating the cardiac, respiratory or general rhythms of his organism, but it is not evident;
- Changes in sleep patterns, breathing and/or heart rhythms, blood pressure or body temperature occur;
- Presence of external events (prone position, passive smoking, respiratory infections).
SIDS Risk Factors
From the above model it was possible to identify the risk factors for cot death:
- Make the baby sleep in the prone position;
- Leave soft blankets or pillows in the crib;
- Exposure of the newborn to smoke which would double the risk in case of passive smoking and triple it if the mother smoked during pregnancy;
- Premature or low birth weight baby;
- Respiratory infections.
Vaccines and SIDS
Numerous studies, both American and European, have completely ruled out the association between vaccinations and SIDS.