SIDS

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Many parents are stuck as to why or how SIDS occur. That question was always in the back of my mind. I have 11 neices and nephews - none of whom have died from SIDS- but neither one of them have ever slept in a crib. My family doesn't believe in cribs. I always suspected that it was something in the baby's mattress that had something to do with SIDS, it's just never been proven. A healthy baby does not just fall asleep and die. There's something strange about that. Well, my suspicions seems to be true. I've been reading more and more about baby mattresses since I'm going to have a baby and what I've found is this: Chemical compounds containing phosphorus, arsenic and antimony have been added to mattresses as fire retardants and for other purposes since the early 1950's. A fungus that commonly grows in bedding can interact with these chemicals to create poisonous gases (Richardson 1994). These heavier-than-air gases are concentrated in a thin layer on the baby's mattress or are diffused away and dissipated into the surrounding atmosphere. If a baby breathes or absorbs a lethal dose of the gases, the central nervous system shuts down, stopping breathing and then heart function. These gases can fatally poison a baby, without waking the sleeping baby and without any struggle by the baby. A normal autopsy would not reveal any sign that the baby was poisoned (Sprott 1996).
If you google “PBDE and SIDS” you will find an abundance of resources on the issue.
Hope this helps people get unstuck. It helped me. I'm going organic cotton or wool. Cut the other bull out.