SIDS Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. As a future and new parent, one often hears the acronym SIDS. SIDS is blamed when a baby inexplicably dies while sleeping. It’s a rare occurrence and it’s more prevalent in males during the winter; however, many products and discussion topics are related to SIDS. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends all babies be placed on their backs to sleep. They also say a crib mattress should be firm and the crib should not contain any pillows, blankets, comforters, or soft toys because these could all suffocate the baby. This information is reinforced through all the instruction books, the Lamaze class instructor, the doctor, the nurses and the baby website pages.
All the discussion really puts fear in the hearts of new parents. No one wants their child to suffocate while sleeping. We bought a baby monitor for Lillian’s crib that sets off an alarm if she doesn’t move for 15 seconds. The alarm sounds in her room as well as on the two receivers we have. The motion sensor is under the mattress and it’s very sensitive. It detects her breath. We also put on our registry and received an anti-roll device. It has two wedges between which you place the child on her back. The child then must sleep on her back and cannot roll onto her stomach. This anti-roll device also has a memory foam pillow so that her developing skull isn’t flattened by always sleeping on her back.
Many families co-sleep where the baby sleeps in the parents’ bed. We knew we would not do that because we own a nice comfortable mattress and sleep with 6-7 pillows, most of them very soft. Lillian started of in her bassinet. After she fell asleep, whether while feeding or while being walked, we would place her in her bassinet with her anti-roll device. The bassinet was in our room next to the bed. When she awoke, we would feed her and then do some sort of stimulating thing while she was alert. When she got cranky, we would either feed her or walk her around until she fell asleep. That was the pattern. We recorded how long she was awake, feeding, and asleep and determined she would eat for 20 minutes and then be awake for an hour and a half and then feed for another 20 minutes before sleeping for 2-3 hours.
From the very beginning, both Clayton and I were having nightmares about suffocating the baby. Because we were so tired and I would feed Lillian while propped up with pillows on the bed, sometimes I would start to nod off while she was eating. I needed Clayton to be awake to help me stay awake and to help the baby remember her task was to eat. So, Clayton and I, incredibly exhausted, would try to get Lillian fed so she could be put back to bed and we could return to slumber land. Suddenly, in the middle of the night, I would awake. I would tell Clayton that the baby is suffocating and I would turn on the light and search through our pillows looking for her and feeling for her body. This would occur once or twice throughout the night and it was very disturbing. Our pillows are soft and I think I would imagine a pillow was Lillian. Clayton had nightmares too, but he didn’t ever wake me. So after about a week and a half, Clayton thought it would be better for Lillian to sleep in her own room. Rather than having her bassinet in our room and feeding her in our bed, she should sleep in her crib and I should feed her in the rocking chair. If I fed her in the chair, then I shouldn’t have the dreams that I fell asleep while feeding her and she suffocated in our bed.
So we started putting her down in her crib. Now we used the baby monitor to determine when she was awake and it had the added bonus of the motion sensor. The first night we used it the alarm went off twice. We adjusted her swaddle and it didn’t happen again, so we think the swaddle was too thick underneath her. Each time the alarm went off, it would stop very soon afterward because it would startle her awake and she would move. It was very reassuring that the motion sensor worked. If we take Lillian out of her crib and forget to turn off the monitor, the alarm detects no motion in her crib and it is set off after 15 seconds. It’s a pretty high-tech gadget. Since the first night, the alarm has gone off once or twice and each time she awoke and it turned off very soon afterward.
The thing I find contradictory about the advice we’ve received and makes me remain insecure about SIDS is the following:
We were told to swaddle our baby. The swaddle is supposed to make the baby feel secure and to prevent her flailing arms and legs (which she can’t control and doesn’t recognize as hers) from startling her. We initially swaddled the way we were taught in the hospital and the way that is taught in our Lamaze class, in books, and online. We were never good at the swaddle. Lillian would always get her arm or arms out and end up hitting herself in the face with a flailing fist. Clayton then looked online for swaddle techniques and came across the
Australian Method. The Aussie swaddle is more of a straight jacket and is more binding. Her arms don’t break loose anymore, but she doesn’t necessarily enjoy being put into the swaddle or the end result. It’s recommended that parents swaddle for 6 weeks. What bothers me is that we aren’t supposed to have blankets, top sheets, etc. in the crib with her because they can suffocate her, yet it’s recommended we wrap our baby in layers of cloth that goes right up to the height of her ears to keep her feeling calm and secure.
The anti-roll device which is supposed to prevent SIDS by keeping a baby on her back has foam wedges and a foam pillow. Lillian moves during the night. Her head turns and her body shifts. Sometimes when we pick her up after a sleep, her head is almost right against the foam wedge. The device scares me because I think she’ll turn her head into the foam and suffocate.
The nightmares? They lessened. I still have them, but not as frequently. I suppose they’ll go away eventually after we stop swaddling and after we stop using the anti-roll device.
Valerie
