By Liz Szabo, USA TODAY
Fans may reduce the risk of SIDS, or sudden infant death syndrome, a new study shows.
Babies who slept in a room with a fan were 72% less likely to die from SIDS, according to a study released today from Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. The study included interviews with the mothers of 185 infants who died from SIDS and the mothers of 312 other babies.
Fans offered even more protection to babies sleeping in warm rooms, where temperatures were over 69 degrees, according to the study. Although opening a window also appeared to reduce the risk of SIDS, authors say this finding could have been due to chance.
Although doctors don't know exactly why fans seem to help, it's possible that fans improve air circulation, preventing infants from rebreathing exhaled carbon dioxide, which can pool up in the gap between a baby's face and the mattress, says author De-Kun Li, a reproductive and perinatal epidemiologist with Kaiser Permanente's research division.
Because a baby's neck muscles are weak, they may not be able to turn their heads to find fresh air, Li says.
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That's why the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies sleep on their backs. Deaths from SIDS have fallen by half since 1992, to a rate of about 0.5 deaths for every 1,000 live births. Pacifiers also seem to protect babies, Li says, perhaps because the handles prevent a child's face from becoming pressed against the mattress.
Marian Willinger of the National Institutes of Health says that the new study, while intriguing, needs to be followed up by additional research. Putting babies to sleep on their backs is still the most important thing parents or caregivers can do to prevent SIDS, she says.
A study published Monday in Pediatrics, however, show that 26% of mothers of 3-month-olds don't follow that advice. One-third of mothers shared a bed with their 3-month-old, another practice that may increase the risk of SIDS.
Parents who are young, with low incomes or low education are least likely to follow safe sleeping guidelines, the study says.
Daycare providers are even less likely to put infants on their backs, according to a second study in Pediatrics. About 20% of SIDS deaths occur when someone other than a parent is in charge.
In a study of 1,993 infants, only 51% of babies were put to sleep on their backs at the beginning of the study, in which researchers measured the effect of educating childcare providers about SIDS. The program provided modest improvement. Observers noted that 62% of babies were put on their backs at childcare centers that received the training, compared to 57% of babies at centers that didn't receive the training.
Childcare providers are more likely to put babies on their backs if daycare centers have a written policy about safe sleeping, the study says. About half of states require childcare centers to put babies on their backs to sleep.
Study author Rachel Moon, a leading SIDS expert at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, says parents should talk to their childcare providers. "In our observations, parents go in and talk to the childcare provider about what creams to use for diaper rash much more than they talk about sleep position," Moon says.
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