I have noticed that when I sleep on my back and when my head is  centered on my chest that  while sleeping, there will be a blockage of the breathing passageway.  Suffocating me.  Causes me to wake.  The doc says not to worry if it only happens on the rare occassion as it is a flap of skin that has relaxed.
   Scares the s##t out of me as the "dream" I remember just before waking is that of having all the air out of my lungs and the chest muscles are not strong enough to expand the lungs again(envision a balloon with contact cement on the inside)  Lungs work until the sides touch then nothing will pull them apart.
   Thats what it feels like.

   Now, for as long as I can remember I have been a belly sleeper- from very little kid, I could not sleep on my back.  The change happened because of l an auto accident  that put me in a coma in the hospital for two weeks.  Was able to sleep on my back ever since 30 yrs ago.  ( hospitals have their patients sleep on their backs for ease of monitoring.)
    
    This stop breathing thing never happened on my stomach.  I am reconditioning myself to sleep on my stomach again to avoid this terrible dream/situation of air being blocked.

  Now would this relaxing of skin be a possible reason for SIDS in some babies?

I have heard one theory being that it is because they sleep on their stomach.  I thot right away "NOT"!  I wouldn't be here then.

Maybe it is more simple.  I come from a low-middle income family (European decent) and I can remember the basics of how my younger siblings were placed in the crib.  The bottom was just a sheet of plywood and layer of open wool weave and atop of that flannel sheet.  Yes it was hard, but I understand the thinking was there was alot of baby fat to be the "cushion".  There was a lite pillow and a flannel blanket overtop.  That was it.  It was enough.  We survived.
   I see mothers nowadays with new borns that got a ton of clothing on in the summer.  Ask them why, and they say it is because they will be too cold.  Not when it is 80F.   Same goes for the bedcovers,  there are multiple sheets and pillows and a soft mattress.  Much softer than I would like.
  It is comparable to a person taking care of a plant - there can be too much TLC (and it dies)
  You know....it can be that simple.
Has there been a study on SIDs in other countries where post natal quality is different than ours.?
Did you know they don't have any crib deaths in India?  They cannot afford the cribs.  (And yet, the population is growing.)



Last edited by friedemann on Fri Dec 08, 2006 12:48 pm; edited 1 time in total
_________________
I am a man - I don't ask for directions (well yeah I do get lost but then I just enjoy the ride) rather than ask

hello
i do remeber reading something a week or so ago about the link to cot death here is the info i read

dont know if its linked to what ur experincing, but i just hope they find a cause for SIDS to help prevent all these babies dying

"Scientists in the US say they have found the strongest evidence yet that cot death is caused partly by a genetic disorder, which may one day be treatable.

A new study funded by the American government's medical research agency found that babies who died mysteriously in their sleep had abnormalities in the part of the brain that controls breathing, heart rate, blood pressure and arousal.

The problems appeared to affect the brainstem's ability to use and recycle serotonin, impairing an infant's ability to sense high amounts of carbon dioxide and low oxygen levels and prevent itself from asphyxiating, the team said.

That meant they were particularly at risk in situations where they began breathing in their own recycled breath, such as when they are sleeping face-down or have their faces covered by bedding.

A large body of research has already shown that putting a baby to sleep on its stomach greatly increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS.

There are around 300 cot death cases each year in the UK.

"These findings provide evidence that SIDS is not a mystery but a disorder that we can investigate with scientific methods, and some day, may be able to identify and treat," senior author Hannah Kinney, of the Boston Children's Hospital, said of the new study.

"Our goal is to find a way - a diagnostic test - to identify these defects in living infants and then find a way to correct these defects by drugs or other means as the infant passes through the first six months of life, the period of greatest risk for SIDS."

Researcher David Paterson added: "We provide strong evidence that SIDS is a biological problem, and that the brainstem serotonin system is a good place to focus continued research efforts."

In the study, funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the researchers examined tissue from the brainstems of 31 cot death babies and 10 who died of other causes."

I am familiar with scientists latest findings.  Trouble is scientists have been using us for guinea pigs for years.   Hydrogenated oils, trans fats - they are made by science and are deemed OK until there is a complaint.   DDT was OK in its early days too, orchardists were washing their greasy arms off with it after working under the tractor for example.  And asbestos.... and so on.  Why is there more SIDS than before.  I heard the mattress materials give off toxins as well.  Well, in the early days, I didn't have a mattress, a double folded blanket on the plywood bottom of the crib.  I lived and so did my brothers and sister.  Why make it complicated (unless the drug companies are trying to get in)?
  However, the relaxation of the throat muscles could do the same thing from lying on the back with the head straight up and with their lung muscles not developed and strong yet, bang, they would suffocate.   Just asking and pointing out?????????????????


_________________
I am a man - I don't ask for directions (well yeah I do get lost but then I just enjoy the ride) rather than ask

hi im not playing down ur concerns, i think u may be right.

so much is possible now to find out things like this happen i think more should be done.

"Why is there more SIDS than before."

I am not sure what you mean by that.  According to the American SIDS Institute: "Since 1983, the rate of SIDS has fallen by over 50 percent." http://www.sids.org/  

This drop may correlate with the number of mothers-to-be that stop smoking and doing drugs while they are pregnant, it may also correlate to the increased age of mothers when they have children.  It could correlate to older women only having one child.  All of these factors are believed to affect the incidence of SIDS.

I agree with you concerning the increased use of chemicals in our environment that are later found to be hazardous.