Tips on reducing the risk of SIDS

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Tips on reducing the risk of SIDS

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SIDS, which is Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, can occur out to a year of age. It is an absolutely tragic thing that happens where a baby just suddenly stops breathing in the middle of the night. There are a couple of things we can do to reduce the risk of SIDS. First, children should be put to sleep in a very safe environment. They should be on a well-fitted, firm mattress, with a single mattress sheet that is tight fitted. Ideally, they should have no bumpers because bumpers have been known to follow over on to children and create a suffocation issue. No stuffed animals should be in the bed and really no blankets should be in the bed. Things that can help children are actually pacifiers. Sucking on pacifiers, believe it or not, has a decrease instance of SIDS. Having children sleep on their back is the safest way to sleep. One of the things we've created with this back to sleep program, is that a lot of children with an abnormal skull shape. They spend so much time, laying in the bed, their soft, not-yet formed skull starts to shift. So it's important that parents be counseled to shift the baby's sleep position to preserve the roundness of the head.

View Lawrence Kagan, MD's video on Tips on reducing the risk of SIDS...

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Lawrence Kagan, MD

Pediatrician

Lawrence Kagan, MD, FAAP, is a UCLA honors graduate, with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry. He received medical training at USC Keck School of Medicine, and completed his internship and residency in Pediatrics at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. In addition to passionately studying neonatal, general pediatric and adolescent medicine at CHLA, he had the opportunity to train under some of the greatest minds in subspecialty pediatrics, diagnosing and managing the rarest and most complicated childhood ailments. Prior to opening Westside Pediatrics, he worked as an attending physician at the CHLA Emergency Department as well as at Cedars Sinai Urgent Care. Dr. Kagan is a native of Los Angeles and is happily married with two children.

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