My dd is almost 6 months old. Is it safe to say that I'm out of the woods as far as SIDS is concerned? She's such a sound sleeper that I still find myself checking on her once or twice at night. What do other mommies think? Am I paranoid?

Worry is such a normal part of parenting. You are not paranoid at all, just a typical mommy. Though SIDS is a worry, it is extremely rare. It is even extremely rare for a newborn tummy sleeper. The rates are not even close to 1% for them and that very low rate drops even more after the age of four months. I also hate to be the bearer of bad news, but once you stop worrying about SIDS, another worry will come along to take its place. You worry about them falling when they walk, about them having friends when they start school, doing well in school, and boy oh boy, wait till they start driving on their own! All we can do is to do what we can to teach them to protect themselves whatever the situation, and ask God to protect them. I do it on a daily basis and its the only thing that gets me through.

Nancy

For some reason I thought it was the first year. All I know is that with each month that has passed, I have breathed a sigh of relief - it sounds terrible to be happy time is passing because the first year is so exciting. When my daughter was 4 months old I read in the local newspaper that a 5 week old a few streets away had passed away from SIDS and it broke my heart. It makes you wonder why it happens to some and of course makes you so grateful it didn't happen to you. I agree with the previous poster that blankets below the armpits is good - especially if your child is a mover and a shaker.

It's funny that you ask this question. My son will be one tomorrow (:() and I don't know when I stopped worrying about SIDS. This was a HUGE worry for me, as I'm sure it is with all first time moms, especially when we moved him to his own room at 2 months. I don't think it would matter if we all told you that you didn't need to worry anymore because you still would. Each month that passes you'll worry less and less about it 'til you realize that you don't worry about it anymore. Then you realize that you have so many other things to worry about. :)

Thank you Ladies. I am a natural worrier. I try to just let things roll, because I have enough stress in my life. I guess I just wondered about this issue in particular. My dd sometimes takes such long naps and I find myself in and out of her room after the one hour mark hits. "Is she breathing...moving...making sounds...?" It's so weird. After almost 6 months, I can't stop.
And, no, I'm not looking forward to the driving days! lol. She won't be allowed to date until she's 20 either. ;)

While on the topic of SIDS I have a question for everyone. My DS is 6.5 months and sleeps a lot better when I let him nap on his tummy. But I am afraid to put him on his tummy over night because I am asleep and can't keep checking on him.
Are there many mom's out there that put there babe's to sleep on their bellies? Do you worry about the SIDS thing? My Dr said that at 6 months you are more or less out of the woods for SIDS.

E1979 ~ My doctor told me that if they can roll from their back to their tummy and tummy to their back then they may sleep any way they like. He actually encouraged me to put dd on her belly if she preferred it (but she preferers back). Hope that helps! Hows your little guy doing?? Take care!

E1979 - i put my daughter on her tummy. shes 11 months now but i have since she was about 4. when she'd sleep on her back she'd wake up in a panic, i read that they feel like they're falling, which makes since.

Our first two were born before 1993 so they slept on their tummies because it was recommended from day one. Our third slept that way from six weeks because she wouldn't sleep more than an hour at a time at night nor 20 minutes at a time during the day. It took us that long to realize back sleeping was what was causing her to wake so often. Her first night on her tummy she slept six hours straight.

Nancy

LauraLu-
I'm just like you. I worry TOO much. I was talking to DH yesterday and realized that the most I've slept straight in 2 months is 3 hours (without waking myself up, or my daughter waking me up). She's been teething, so she's been quite fussy at night (she just cut her 6th tooth yesterday)...she's 6.5 months. So since Thanksgiving we've been up and down and it seems like she's ALWAYS cutting a tooth!

I am not sure when the "risk" is over- the only baby I know that has ever died of SIDS was about 5.5 months when he passed (he actually passed away on Valentines Day...a very very sad situation, that's even sadder to me now that I have a baby).

I'm sure I'll be like the previous poster...worry less and less until I stop worrying about it and I won't really be sure when I stopped. Although- my mom still worries incredibly about me and my brother (we're both grown and out of the house)...so I come by it naturally! (and I drive DH crazy!!)

As far as sleeping- my baby prefers to sleep on her stomach, we usually put her down on her back, but she flops right over to her stomach the first chance she gets. At first this worried me...but she does sleep better this way. I figure she's the one doing it, and I can't keep goign in there all night long and flipping her back, so she must be ok! :)

Good luck

Even on his tummy his still wont sleep much more than 30 mins. Unless I lay down with him for the first 30 minutes. Once that 30 min mark passes I usually can get up and do some stuff and he'll stay asleep. That is unless I have fallen asleep too! ;)

I just thought Id throw in one more option. My baby is 13 months old and I, like you ladies worried soo much about SIDS. It may very well be rare, but the fact that it can happen at all is enough to make me worried about it. Also most countries have official SIDS orgs with websites that may fuel more worry (as it did with me hehe) but it is a great source of accurate information including data on past incidences including pre and post the back to sleep campaign.

Anyway that aside, because I worried so much, when my baby was about 6 months old (and I wish Id known about it earlier) I bought a monitor that sensed is motion and breathing. It was amazing and from that night he had it, I never checked on him or lost any sleep at all. You slip the sensor pads under the cot matress and if the baby doesnt move (including breathing) for more than 25 seconds, it sets off an alarm on the parents and base monitor. I was a little bit skeptical that it would work properly but it really did, as when id take him out to feed him and forget to turn it off it would set the alarm off and id have to run back down tha hallway at 3am to switch it off lol. I actually heard about the monitor on this board at the time and it was such a relief. Im not sure if Im allowed to name the brand here, but you can find and order them online if you do a search or I bought mine from a baby store for $180.00AU.

Lauren
xxx

This drove me insane to for a while until after she reached 4mths old. I became more comfortable after that.
I must say at the births of my other older children 1986,1992 & 1995 I didn't worry about it at all. It wasn't until I had this baby that it was a worry for me because they had more information out there for me to read.
Now that she just made 5 months I am not checking on her to often . I can't say that I still get a full nights sleep ( she is right next to me in her baby bed). I won't ever sleep right until she is about a yr old. I do to always check on her during the day, evening, morning, night it never ends.