Scary: SIDS deaths skyrocket on New Year’s Day

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, remains the leading cause of death in infants under the age of one.

Though SIDS is still fairly poorly understood, a few things are known about prevention. A campaign to educate parents to place sleeping babies face up instead of the previously popular position of face down has caused a drop in SIDS deaths. Other contributing factors such as parental smoking, alcohol use and gender-related risks (boys are more likely to die of SIDS, as well as babies born in winter) have all been identified in recent years. However, one particularly alarming risk factor has come to light that hasn’t been noted previously- babies are 33% more likely to die of SIDS on New Year’s Day than any other.

According to the L.A. Times, alcohol use by parents could be a causative factor in the higher number of SIDS deaths on that day:

The study from UC San Diego examined 129,090 cases of SIDS, or sudden infant death syndrome, between 1973 and 2006 by using data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System. It suggests that caregivers who drink alcohol may not be following “safe sleep” recommendations, such as placing infants on their backs to sleep.

Since 1994, SIDS death rates have dropped 50% in the US following the back-to-sleep campaign urging parents to lay infants down to sleep on their backs.

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