Nationally, October is recognized as SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) Awareness Month. Awareness about SIDS and what can be done to help reduce the risks associated with SIDS have lead to a 50% decline in the incidences of SIDS in the past 20 years.  SIDS mostly affects babies from one month to one year of age and the cause of death is undetermined.  Research into the causes of SIDS continues and there have been some significant advancements in recent years to help move us closer to understanding why we continue to lose babies to SIDS.

Each year The Baby Sleep Site™, recognizes SIDS Awareness month and strives to help inform readers about how to reduce the risks associated with SIDS. It is important that not only parents now about how to help prevent SIDS, but also child care providers, grandparents, relatives, babysitters and health care providers.

Some of the recommendations for safe sleep practices from the American Academy of Pediatrics include:

• Place baby on her back to sleep for bedtime and naps. Because baby can roll onto her tummy from her side, placing baby to sleep on her side is not recommended.
• Don’t put baby to sleep with a blanket or over-bundle them in clothing to sleep.
• Avoid letting baby get too hot when sleeping. Baby could be too hot while sleeping if you notice that your baby is sweaty, flushed or has a heat rash.

You can read more here about the recommendations from AAP for safe sleep environments and tummy time:
American Academy of Pediatrics Parent’s Guide to Safe Sleep

Many parents use baby sleep bags or baby sleep sacks as an alternatively to blankets or other bedding in baby’s crib to avoid the possibility of blankets cover the face of a baby. New research suggests that the type of material the baby sleep bags is made from can also help protect baby from overheating and to help regulate body temperature. Specifically, merino wool has shown to be a better regulator of baby temperature than synthetic materials such as fleece.

The Baby Sleep Site™ has teamed up  Baby Sleep Bags and will be giving away one Merino Kids Baby Sleep Bag (retail value $119). Merino Kids Baby Sleep Bags come in two sizes, 0-2 years of age and 2-4 years of age and the winner of the giveaway can choose the appropriate size. You can read more here about the properties of the Merino Kids Baby Sleep Bags help regulate body temperature.

Additionally, The Baby Sleep Site™ will be donating $1 per entry to First Candle, a national nonprofit health organization to advance infant health and survival.

You can enter the giveaway (and help raise money for SIDS) just by leaving a comment over on Baby Sleep Site™.

Enter SIDS Awareness Giveaway here.

Tags: Baby Sleep Bags, back to sleep, merino wool, safe sleep for babies, sids, SIDS Awarness

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 19th, 2010 at 12:19 PM and is filed under baby sleep, giveaways, parenting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.