This item has been around for years, but is getting
renewed attention as part of an effort to clear the
baby's sleeping area of hazards. This is considered by
some to be different from SIDS risk reduction,
although parents may not always understand this. As
you know, there is no identifiable cause for SIDS,
that we understand. Back to sleep, breastfeeding , no
maternal smoking all reduce SIDS risk, although we
dno't KNOW why.
As part of an attempt to reduce the risk of
suffocation, there is education regarding removing
pillows, blankets, stuffed animals, positioners, and
crib bumper pads from the infant/baby 's sleeping
area. Why? Babies as they grow, move around in bed
(bassinets, cribs and parental beds) and can push
their faces move right into soft materials, which
conform to their faces and can contribute to a
suffocation death. Blankets, qilts, etc. can get
wrapped around the baby's face and contribute to
suffocation. (Some may say that this is like a SIDS
risk as the material reduces the infants ability to
inhale oxygen and instead is inhaling high levels of
carbon dioxide.)
These sleeping bags, which are made of fleece and can
be of varying thickness, substitute for a blanket.
Parents should be told to keep the baby's sleeping
area between 68-72 degrees. Baby can be in a light
pajama and then in the bag , and it is similar to
being under a blanket without the risk.
I teach this information every day, and it is
distressing to see the confusion and fear in the faces
of new parents. On the other hand, how do you
encourage parents make informed choices without
telling them the risks of many products they have
purchased or were given, or because they didn't know
that that soft, warm down comforter on the their bed
could be a problem??
In the US, new parents are the targets of the most
incredible marketing stratagies and they are so
vulnerable. I attempt to make them into good
consumers: you don't need breastfeeding pillows
either, you have arms! Why is baby powder still on the
market and samples found in gift bags on maternity
units? I dn't know, and you don't need it, etc. Some
parents, even though well educated, are not real savvy
to risks for babies and children...they know so little
about babies because they have not been around them
while persuing their careers. (Don't you wonder some
times why mothering comes so hard for many women? They
spend years preventing a pregnancy, avoid pregnant
women and babies like the plague... then all of a
sudden it is their turn and they are lost!) That is
why they need so muck attention breastfeeding and
parenting.
Enough, I hope this helps. Anne Andrianos, Syracuse,
NY , USA
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