Study reveals babies born to smokers have increased risk of SIDS

VICTORIA, Australia Monash University researchers have found that babies born to a mother who smokes are more likely to be slower to wake or respond to stimulation – and this may explain their increased risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, researchers reported last week.

Scientific director of the Ritchie Centre for Baby Health Research Rosemary Horne and researcher Heidi Richardson compared babies of mothers who smoked both during the pregnancy and after the baby was born, with babies who lived in a smoke-free environment.

Horne said the study suggested that maternal smoking can impair a baby's ability to respond to external stimuli, which may explain their increased risk of SIDS.

“Those babies whose mothers smoked did not have as many arousals overall and the progression of the arousal response through the brain was also impaired,” Horne said. “Mothers who smoked while pregnant and continued to smoke afterward significantly increased their baby's chances of succumbing to SIDS.”

The study involved 12 healthy, full-term infants born to mothers who smoked an average of 15 cigarettes per day. Their arousal responses during daytime sleep were monitored and compared with that of healthy infants who were born to non-smoking mothers.