Why does SIDS happen?
There is no single-known cause of SIDS, current areas of research have looked into baby’s respiratory systems and temperature control mechanisms, which are very immature in young babies and may make it harder for babies to rouse themselves if, for example, the covers go over their heads. There are certain factors that make the risk higher. Babies whose mother’s smoked during pregnancy and postnatally had an increased risk of SIDS as well as babies who were born to mother’s who received poor antenatal care. Mothers who were under the age of twenty also had a higher risk of their babies suffering from SIDS but this may be because of smoking as well as poor antenatal care. Premature and low-weight babies are also at a slightly higher risk of SIDS. For reasons unknown to doctors, SIDS is slightly more common in boys and less common in Asian babies. Babies who had a sibling die of SIDS are also slightly more at risk. The environmental factors that increase the risk of SIDS are babies overhe
