SIDS Spikes on New Year’s Day, New Study Shows

In sad holiday-related news, a new study in the journal Addiction reports that the number of babies who die of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) surges by 33 percent on New Year’s Day, according to ScienceDaily. The study links the rise in the number of deaths to alcohol consumption by caretakers on New Year’s Eve.

The study examined almost 130,000 SIDS cases from 1973 to 2006, making it the first large-scale U.S. study to explore possible connections between alcohol and SIDS. Although it cannot point definitively to alcohol consumption as a cause of SIDS, in part because the data studied contain very little information per death, the study also found a rise in SIDS just after April 20 (4/20, also known as Weed Day) and following July 4, when people are also likely to have been intoxicated. The study’s lead author suggested that parents under the influence of alcohol may not make the best parenting choices at that particular moment, perhaps neglecting to put baby to sleep on his back, for example, or making other unsafe choices.

Parents of infants, does this news make you less likely to drink this New Year’s Eve, as a precautionary measure against SIDS?