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Development Topics
Understanding Your Child’s Physical Development
Reducing the Risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
Providing a safe environment for babies means reducing the risk of SIDS. SIDS is defined as "the sudden death of an infant under one year of age which remains unexplained after a thorough investigation.”
Check off the following to make sure you are minimizing the risk of SIDS:
Place your baby to sleep on his back. (Doing so has reduced the number of SIDS substantially.)
Don’t smoke and never allow smoking in your home.
Keep crib completely free of soft pillows, toys and blankets.
Don’t put your baby to sleep on soft surfaces like sofas, waterbeds, pillows or soft mattresses.
Tell your childcare worker to do all of the above.
Some families following the above suggestions still lose their babies. It is important to remember that SIDS is an “unexplained death,” and parents are not at fault. For more information, see www.sidscenter.org.
— Veola Vazquez
Last updated: May 2005
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