Positional Asphyxia - I Never Knew

[Unregistered]

I'm NOT saying to leave babies cry for hours. If that is the case, the parent needs to be called. As always, work with the parent to help the child adjust to crib/playpen sleeping. And you don't need to leave the child alone to cry. You can be with the child while they cry. You can rub their back, talk to them, sing, pat them, etc. Sometimes they cry because they simply aren't ready to sleep. I only let a baby yell for about 10 minutes before picking them up. I will calm them and try again for a nap a short while later.

I am saying that in a case where a child will only sleep in a carseat/swing/bouncy seat without crying vs. a playpen where a child cries, we need to choose the playpen. 99% of the time, a child will learn within days that the playpen/crib is the rest area and will learn to go to sleep without movement (rocking, swinging, vibrating, etc.).

Yes, there are extreme cases of kids who do not adjust to crib sleeping, but I believe that has a lot to do with what goes on at home. I believe that in those type of cases, most of the time the parents aren't making the necessary changes at home to make the baby's days easier in daycare.

What you're saying sounds like you have not actually cared for that many crying babies. Pat them, talk to them, rub their back, hang out with them while they cry, etc are all means to drag things out at naptime. If you pick up a crying baby after just 10 minutes, they are going to learn real quick that it's ok to just cry because she'll come get me pretty soon. They don't learn to sooth themselves and go to sleep because you're messing with them. Any baby I've ever watched, I've let them cry it out. It might take an hour the first day, 30 min the second, 15 the 3rd and by the end of the week it's over. If you do all the patting and picking up, you'll be there for weeks on end. This child is the first I've encountered that is NOT like that. I can tell you for a fact that standing over him patting him would do no good because he is sitting up. He cries harder when he can see me than when he can't. If I picked him up after 10 min and went back a short time later, we would go through the same exact thing for the entire afternoon and he would still not nap.

I do agree that it has a lot to do with what goes on at home.

[Meyou]

Please rethink the sling for naps. I found out at this years safe sleep that a new mother took her infant to the fair, in a sling to keep them close. After an hour or so she went to change her,.... She had passed in that time. From positional asphyxia. I'm thinking it was in Muncie In.

**not sure why this quoted cat. I tried to respond to meyou

It's a rare thing and always an older baby. I said in a different post that I rarely have babies younger than 6 months and mostly over 10 months when they start. It would be a teething, fussy, sick, cranky, out of the ordinary situation that I would even consider slinging to sleep. It came to mind because I had a sick 17 month old sleep on me in a sling for 2 hours yesterday afternoon. She wouldn't settle unless she was snuggling and I had stuff to do so I put her in the sling, she tucked in her elbows and went right to sleep. Well, coughing, mouth open sleep but still better than a fussy toddler with sinus pressure.

I'm a big lover of the sling but I also realize it's not a safe option for the littlest ones.

[laundrymom]

It's a rare thing and always an older baby. I said in a different post that I rarely have babies younger than 6 months and mostly over 10 months when they start. It would be a teething, fussy, sick, cranky, out of the ordinary situation that I would even consider slinging to sleep. It came to mind because I had a sick 17 month old sleep on me in a sling for 2 hours yesterday afternoon. She wouldn't settle unless she was snuggling and I had stuff to do so I put her in the sling, she tucked in her elbows and went right to sleep. Well, coughing, mouth open sleep but still better than a fussy toddler with sinus pressure.

I'm a big lover of the sling but I also realize it's not a safe option for the littlest ones.

SOrry to be so,..... Idk snaPpy. About these things. I just,... Well it's been a rough day. Ugh. Where's that easy button?!!

[Meyou]

SOrry to be so,..... Idk snaPpy. About these things. I just,... Well it's been a rough day. Ugh. Where's that easy button?!!

Totally ok. I knew what you meant and I didn't take it as a snap.

[Sunchimes]

Could someone please tell me what the age range is for this danger? Birth to what age? I'll be adding a newborn in a few weeks, and I'm so glad to read this. But, at what age can I take him out in a stroller or in a car seat when he might fall asleep? Is it safe at 6 months? Ten months?

Thank you so much!

[daycare]

I also never knew this until I learned it here.

It was also not mentioned in my recent SIDS training, taken from 2 different sources (once on my own, then again for my EC program classes).

I remember rolling my eyes when I heard that we have to get a sleeping baby out of the car seat, and wake them, then lay them in a crib. Yeah right, I thought!

I have never even owned a swing, I am not a fan of contraptions. I have a friend who's daughter spent most of her first year in one going back and forth back and forth, all freakin day. It drove me bananas every time I saw it.

Now that I am aware of this danger, should I ever have a young infant in my care, I will definately NOT allow him to sleep in a carseat.

Ditto, I also learned it here

[Christian Mother]

I have a 4 mo little one who started 2 wks ago and it's taken that amount of time to get her on a routine nap schedule and to get her to nap. In the beginning she would fight her naps. So I would go in every 7 min and whisper to her...I found that her eyes would be shut and her hands would be in her mouth ...a type of soothing mechanism perhaps? She had already been feed and played with and diapered...I watched for these signs and noticed a pattern with her and about 10 each time she'd quiet her self down and fall fast a sleep...now mom and dad would bundle her and give her a blankie toy she could hold on to. What I would do is put her in a baby rapp and give her her toy and then leave weight 7 min go in and talk to her some come out and after a few min as soon as I hear her quiet go back in with the door slightly open so I can squeeze in and out as not to wake her if the door squeaks. I have the fan on for white noise but I also have the tv on and also music. Tons of diff. sounds so she gets used to noise. When I hear she's quiet I go in and remove her toy. Back in the diaper bag it goes. She never puts it near her face bc her hands are up and it clenches the toy. And she doesn't sleep with a pacifier!! I love that ...break them of that quickly so it's not a problem later on. Hope I didn't high jack this sight...but that is normally what I've done with infants and if they fall asleep in the swing I stop it pick them up and in their pnp they go. Sometimes they cry and I repeat the process as if I where to lay them down for their nap.

[MyAngels]

Could someone please tell me what the age range is for this danger? Birth to what age? I'll be adding a newborn in a few weeks, and I'm so glad to read this. But, at what age can I take him out in a stroller or in a car seat when he might fall asleep? Is it safe at 6 months? Ten months?

Thank you so much!

Babies are at risk for SIDS up to one year old.

[Unregistered]

I understand all that is being said about car seats and I don't use them as beds but if it is such a problem don't you think it is a design flaw in the manufacturing? People travel, babies fall alseep on car rides all the time. What are people suppose to do that are making a 4 hour drive to Grandmas for Christmas, shake the baby every 5 seconds to make sure that he doesn't go to sleep. Who does that? Seems to me that if it is really such a problem then something would should be down with the way that car seats are constructed. Just my opinion!

[SilverSabre25]

That's why I was thinking perhaps there's a difference in the angle of how they're made now vs back almost 12 years ago when I bought the seat.

PLEASE tell me that you're not using a car seat that was made 12 years ago!!!

They have expiration dates. Your seat is probably *at least* 6 years past it's expiration date.

Car seats these days are much safer than they were 12 years ago. If a seat today is causing the baby's head to flop too far forward then that is more likely a problem with the user's installation, not the design of the seat itself!

It's true that car seats are not designed for babies to sleep in--they are designed for babies to survive a car accident.

[SilverSabre25]

I understand all that is being said about car seats and I don't use them as beds but if it is such a problem don't you think it is a design flaw in the manufacturing? People travel, babies fall alseep on car rides all the time. What are people suppose to do that are making a 4 hour drive to Grandmas for Christmas, shake the baby every 5 seconds to make sure that he doesn't go to sleep. Who does that? Seems to me that if it is really such a problem then something would should be down with the way that car seats are constructed. Just my opinion!

No, but you can have a mirror back there so you can see into the car seat, and check to make sure you can see baby breathing, that baby is a normal color, that baby has changed position, maybe reach back and poke the baby to make sure they twitch. That's the purpose of the mirrors that go on the back of the seat. You just have to make sure that the mirror is secured properly (ideally, hooked into the rear anchor) so that it doesn't become a hazard in an accident.

You can also make sure to practice safe car seat usage in the first place--that the seat is properly installed, both tight enough and at the correct angle of recline, that you are not overdressing baby in the seat (NO SNOWSUITS OR HEAVY COATS!), that you aren't using those thick fleece car seat inserts (which are NOT recommended by the manufacturers, btw) which could be a breathing hazard AS WELL AS interfering with the proper function of the seat in an accident. Make sure your baby is correctly strapped into the seat--straps at the right settings, tight-but-not-too-tight (shouldn't be able to pinch any of the shoulder strap up with your thumb and forefinger), and that the chest clip is at the correct height (even with baby's armpits).

[familyschoolcare]

No, but you can have a mirror back there so you can see into the car seat, and check to make sure you can see baby breathing, that baby is a normal color, that baby has changed position, maybe reach back and poke the baby to make sure they twitch. That's the purpose of the mirrors that go on the back of the seat. You just have to make sure that the mirror is secured properly (ideally, hooked into the rear anchor) so that it doesn't become a hazard in an accident.

You can also make sure to practice safe car seat usage in the first place--that the seat is properly installed, both tight enough and at the correct angle of recline, that you are not overdressing baby in the seat (NO SNOWSUITS OR HEAVY COATS!), that you aren't using those thick fleece car seat inserts (which are NOT recommended by the manufacturers, btw) which could be a breathing hazard AS WELL AS interfering with the proper function of the seat in an accident. Make sure your baby is correctly strapped into the seat--straps at the right settings, tight-but-not-too-tight (shouldn't be able to pinch any of the shoulder strap up with your thumb and forefinger), and that the chest clip is at the correct height (even with baby's armpits).

Exactly their are other things to do in make sure bab is safe while trransporting than waking the bab up.

[familyschoolcare]

I understand all that is being said about car seats and I don't use them as beds but if it is such a problem don't you think it is a design flaw in the manufacturing? People travel, babies fall alseep on car rides all the time. What are people suppose to do that are making a 4 hour drive to Grandmas for Christmas, shake the baby every 5 seconds to make sure that he doesn't go to sleep. Who does that? Seems to me that if it is really such a problem then something would should be down with the way that car seats are constructed. Just my opinion!

SilverSabre25 addressed nicely what one shoudl do instead of wake up the baby every few secounds.

Thje design of the car seat in NOT flawed it is designed to save the life of a baby if the care is in a crash and that is what it does. While the position the car seat puts a baby in is far from ideal for sleep it is what is best, with the information we have so far, if the car is in a crash. If at some point we learn a better postion to put the baby in if the car is in a crash then we will do that.

Utill and unless we learn a "better" way for a baby to be safe in the event of a car crash, we will have to NOT use the car seat ANYWHERE other than the car.

[Sunchimes]

Babies are at risk for SIDS up to one year old.

Thanks myangels. I knew that SIDS was up to one year, but I wasn't clear on whether positional asphyxia was a danger up to one year.

[My Daycare]

An article like the following does not help! Articles like this are why people "never knew."

http://newbornbaby.com.au/newborn/care/baby-sleeping/baby-cat-naps/