SIDS/Infant Sleep Checks

[jojosmommy]

I attended a training this weekend and was surprised to hear there have been 3 SIDS deaths while children are in care in our county in the last few years (I think she said 1-2 years). I have not heard of any of them. Our regulations simply state that you must "check on infants regularly" in addition to the on their back in a crib with no blankets regs we all know about.

My question is how often do you check on infants while they are sleeping? At what time intervals? And what do you consider a check: a peek in the door, walking up to them and actually seeing their are breathing, a video monitor on them at all times? Our regs don't spell it out clearly so its open to interpretation.

Also, when trying to get an infant on a sched/nap routine how long do you let them be in their crib awake while they are trying to fall asleep? Our regs don't state a specific time limit but I have seen other posters who say their regulations limit it to 20 min. Anyone have input on this?

I personally never checked on my own infant while he was sleeping at night nor did any of my clients outside of having a monitor in his room and being in the next room. Obviously it is much different with daycare kids. Just makes me wonder what is considered "normal" while at daycare.

[morgan24]

I have a monitor in the room and also do a 10 minute check, just for my own peace of mind. I go into the room to hear them breathing. The monitor has the bars and they go up and down as they breathe.

[MG&Lsmom]

Our regs are every 15 mins for ALL sleeping children. Babies under 6 months old must be in direct eye sight for the first 6 weeks of care regardless of what they are doing. Which means an 8w old baby has to do all their napping next to me for the first 6 weeks in care. Reasons #23 why I don't do infants.

When I did have an infant and she passed the 6 week mark, I had a super duper clear monitor next to her pnp. I could hear her breathing. I still went in every 15 mins. Just to the doorway, I could see her chest rise and fall. 30 seconds maybe I'd watch? More often than not if I went beyond the doorway, she'd wake up. Reason #24 why I don't do infants.

With my big kids, I just pop my head in the nap room, see they are all still sleeping and not face planted into their mats or tangled in blankets.

[Cat Herder]

I am in the same room.

Naptime is supervised time.

What I do with DCK's and what I do with my own kids are not even in the same realm.

My own kids were on Apnea/Bradycardia Monitors equipped with alarms and recording device, analyzed by a SIDS Researcher monthly, at a personal cost of $1500 a month.