New Way to Protect Your Infant From a SIDS Death

A fan in the room where your infant sleeps may reduce the risk that your infant dies from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) by 72 percent a study suggested today. They may benefit from better air ventilation. That’s because infants who die from SIDS may have brain abnormalities that prevent them from gasping and waking when they don't get enough oxygen. SIDS may be caused, in part, when a baby breathes back in exhaled carbon dioxide. A fan ventilates the air and may break up the carbon dioxide that pools near the infant's nose and mouth.

"This is actually a miracle in public health, “ said Dr. De-Kun Li of Kaiser Permanente who led the study, yet the study was small. More research is needed according Dr. Fern Hauck, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics SIDS task force.

Results from earlier studies offered other actions that reduce the chances of SIDs death:
• Have a firm mattress an fitted sheet in the crib
• Use a pacifier at night
• Don’t use heavy blankets or turn the temperature up in the room – to keep your infant from getting too warm.
• Do not have infants sharing a crib.
• Place your baby on his or her back in bed – even for short naps (“back to sleep”)
• Do not have toys, pillows or other objects in the crib

SIDS remains the leading cause of death in babies after one month of age. The good news is that SIDs deaths have gone down as parents have adopted some of these measures. Also consider what your infant is breathing in the bedroom – and check the air in your home as it may be polluted.

Young children are more likely to develop multiple allergies

… later in life, when they are exposed to fungal spores that are “abundant in the air that we breathe every day” according to University of Cincinnati researchers.

They found that infants who were exposed to basidiospores and other airborne fungal spores (called penicillium/aspergillus and alternaria) early in life were more likely to develop allergies to mold, pollen, dust mites, pet dander and certain foods as they grew older.

That finding is worth reading twice.

“Because mold exists naturally in the outdoors, it’s very difficult to completely remove mold spores from the air," concluded Melissa Osborne, a graduate of the university’s environmental and occupational hygiene program and the lead author of the study.

(Yet it is not as difficult to remove most of those spores in your home than outdoors.)