Potentially ground-breaking new SIDS research has recently been released, and the media and some influential people on social media have made some huge claims around what it means.

Several going as far as claiming that the cause of SIDS has been discovered.

The study was attempting to identify the cause of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and while it's findings are very interesting, it's not exactly as the headlines make it appear.

In this article I break down what the study involved, how it was conducted, and what it really means for parents and babies.

While it is amazing research, and the team are doing incredible work, I feel it's important to look past the big media headlines and understand exactly what the research does and doesn't mean to avoid jumping to false (and potentially dangerous) conclusions.

Confronting Claims About The Latest SIDS Research (Media Hype vs. Reality)

What was the "SIDS Breakthrough"?

This could be the biggest breakthrough in SIDS research in a long time or is it? A new study published on May the 6th in the journal, EBioMedicine is causing a stir among parents and there's some pretty huge claims being made on social media and in articles around the internet, some of which frankly are inaccurate and even potentially harmful.

So in this article, I'm going to break down what this research really means, how much of a breakthrough it actually is, and everything else you need to know about it.

Firstly, let's talk about the study completed by Dr.Harrington and her team.

These researchers measured the level of an enzyme, which is referred to as BChE in the blood of 67 babies in Australia who died of SIDS.

And what they found is that the babies who died of SIDS had significantly lower levels of BChE than babies who did not die from SIDS.

Was It Really A SIDS Breakthrough?

Now this finding is very interesting as low levels of this enzyme would actually reduce a sleeping infant's ability to wake up or respond to its environments and this would increase their risk of SIDS.

So for example, usually, when a baby experiences a life-threatening situation, such as having difficulty breathing while they're sleeping, they will wake up and cry out for help.

But for babies with low levels of BChE, they don't have the same arousal response and they will stay in this compromised position.

Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that the enzyme, BChE could actually be a potential biomarker to help identify newborn babies who are at risk of SIDS.

Now, some people have interpreted these findings to mean that Dr.

Harrington and her team have identified the cause of SIDS.

While at first glance, this might seem like a reasonable conclusion, it's simply not accurate.

But before I explain why, make sure you download a copy of my free parents guide to naps by clicking the link in the description if you haven't already.

This will help to make nap times much easier for you and your baby.

So even Dr. Harrington and her team acknowledged that this study is not definitive by titling their paper, BChE is a potential biomarker for sudden infant death syndrome, not BChE is a definitive biomarker for sudden infant death syndrome.

In fact, Dr. Harrington stated more research is needed to determine whether BChE tests would be an effective way to identify infants at risks of SIDS and prevent future deaths.

Medical experts have also urged people to be cautious for a number of reasons.

Firstly, the lab samples tested were more than two years old and the enzyme levels may have changed since the time of collection.

Secondly, they're only coroner diagnoses, not autopsy findings were used to determine which deaths were classified as SIDS.

The findings also included data on children up to the age of two, but a SIDS diagnosis is only given to a baby who dies under the age of one.

And the sample size itself was relatively small with 67 cases of children who had died from SIDS and 10 controls, so these were 10 living cases.

What they did find is that some of the infants in that control group did have low levels of BChE, but they did not develop SIDS.

Due to the small sample size and the conflicting findings in that control group, it's clear that much more research is needed to know if these findings are in fact conclusive in a larger group of infants.

SIDS Occurs When 3 Factors Happen Simultaneously

Furthermore, it's important to note that this study is only a small piece to a very large puzzle for SIDS and this is because current research indicates that SIDS is not due to one factor, rather it occurs where multiple factors happen at the same time, which is explained in the triple risk model.

So according to this model, SIDS occurs when three factors occur simultaneously.

The first factor is a vulnerable infant.

So the infant themselves might have an underlying vulnerability that puts them at risk for SIDS.

So, this might be that they have low BChE or the baby might have been born prematurely, they may have been a male, they might have a low birth weight, the baby may have been exposed to tobacco smoke or illicit drugs in utero, or there may be a genetic component.

The second factor is a critical developmental period for homeostatic control.

So this simply means that the infant is under six months of age because we know that around 90% of SIDS death occur in the first six months of a baby's life, with it peaking at around two to four months of age and few babies die in that first month.

And the third factor is there is an exogenous stressor or external stressor.

So these include environmental factors like sleeping a baby on their belly or on a soft sleeping surface, using a pillow, bed sharing, or accidental overheating.

SIDS Occurs When 3 Factors Happen Simultaneously

So when these three factors overlap, there is the greatest risk of sudden and unexpected death in infants, including SIDS.

Given that SIDS occurs when these three factors overlap, the findings by Dr.

Harrington and her team may offer a small hint at what might be a potential biomarker that makes an infant vulnerable to SIDS, but it will not eradicate SIDS, nor does it lower the importance of creating a safe sleep environment.

It's important that we continue to eliminate environmental elements, which are known risk factors for SIDS and follow the safe sleeping practices, as well as keep unsafe baby sleeping products well away from our baby's sleeping spaces.

Read this article next to find out which products you should never have in your baby's crib.

Many of these are marketed as essential items, but are actually completely unnecessary and can increase the risk of SIDS for your baby.

Newborn Sleep