Parents who drink alcohol may put babies at a higher risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Researchers at the University of California at San Diego discovered that SIDS cases happen 33 percent more often on New Year’s Day than on any other day of the year. This is the day when more people drink alcohol than at any other time of the year.
The SIDS rate in the United States has dropped since the 1990s to 2500 cases each year. That is about 7 infant deaths each day and the 33 percent increase translates to two more cases of SIDS occurring on New Year’s Day than any other day.
SIDS cases and drinking happen more often on weekends, according to the study, and infants whose caretakers drink were more than twice as likely to die from SIDS as those babies whose caretakers do not drink alcohol.
SIDS is a rare occurrence, but still constitutes a significant portion of all infant deaths in the United States. The lead author of the study hopes the results will encourage parents and researchers to focus more on the role alcohol plays as a risk factor for SIDS.
"This study is a pretty clear indicator that SIDS might have an alcohol component," said David Phillips.
Phillips expressed concern that when parents and caretakers drink alcohol they are less likely to follow recommendations like not sleeping in the same bed as the baby and limiting the amount of pillows and blankets they put in the baby’s crib.
"We know that people are not as good at performing tasks when under the influence of alcohol."
