FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
If you have questions in addition to
those set out here, please contact us by email at
info@happynursery.com or call us at (910) 717-3128
Crib death is the most common cause of
death among infants 1 month to 1 year of age. Ninety percent of all crib deaths
occur among babies under 6 months of age. In most cases of crib death, the baby
has been put down to sleep in his/her crib and later found lifeless, with no
sign of illness or physical struggle.
Many parents may be unaware of a 100%
successful
crib death prevention campaign which a New Zealand scientist, Dr Jim Sprott, has been running in New Zealand for ten years.
Dr Sprott states with certainty that the cause of
crib death has been
discovered: it is caused by very toxic nerve gases which can be generated from
mattresses and certain other bedding used in babies' cribs. These toxic nerve
gases are generated when compounds of phosphorus, arsenic and/or antimony in the
bedding combine with household fungus which commonly grows in bedding.
These gases (which are all
anticholinesterase agents), when inhaled by a baby or absorbed through the
baby’s skin in a lethal dose, shut down the baby’s central nervous system,
stopping breathing and then heart function. Thus the cause of
crib death is not
medical – it is the result of environmental poisoning. The baby can be
fatally poisoned without waking and without physical struggle.
The solution is to prevent exposure of babies to the gases by wrapping
mattresses in accordance with a specified protocol and ensuring that bedding
used on top of the wrapped mattresses is not capable of the gas generation
concerned.
Since late 1994 mattress-wrapping has been publicized nationwide in New
Zealand. Prior to the commencement of mattress-wrapping, New Zealand had the
highest crib death rate in the world (2.1 deaths per 1000 live births).
Following the adoption of mattress-wrapping the New Zealand nationwide crib
death rate has fallen by 56% - and there has been no reported crib death among
those babies who have slept on mattresses wrapped in accordance with Dr Sprott’s
mattress-wrapping protocol. Among the ethnic group most likely to wrap babies'
mattresses (New Zealand Europeans) the crib death rate has fallen by around 80%.
These major reductions in New Zealand crib death rates cannot be attributed to
orthodox crib death prevention advice (e.g. face-up
sleeping). There has been no material change in that advice in New Zealand since
1992.
The toxic gas theory for crib death
explains every risk factor which medical researchers associate with crib death.
A considerable amount of research
relating to the toxic gas theory has been published in peer-reviewed medical and
other scientific journals. In fact, mattress-wrapping for
crib death prevention
is supported by wider research than supported the introduction of various items
of orthodox crib death prevention advice (including face-up sleeping).
According to Dr Sprott (who has a PhD in
chemistry and is expert in the gas generation concerned), every step in the
toxic gas theory for crib death has
been proved. And the ten-year New Zealand experience provides practical proof
that mattress-wrapping prevents crib death.
Some orthodox crib death researchers say
that crib death rates in various countries have fallen without the introduction
of mattress-wrapping – and they have. But there is a crucial difference: many
babies have died of crib death where parents followed orthodox crib death
prevention advice; but there has been no reported crib death on mattresses
wrapped in accordance with Dr Sprott’s mattress-wrapping protocol.
Unlike orthodox crib death
prevention advice, mattress-wrapping has a 100% success record in crib death
prevention.
Have the results of the New Zealand mattress-wrapping campaign been reported in
medical literature?
In 2002 a German environmental medicine
practitioner, Dr Hannes Kapuste, published the statistical results of the New
Zealand mattress-wrapping campaign: "Giftige Gase im Kinderbett" ("Toxic Gases
in Infants' Beds”), Zeitschrift fuer Umweltmedizin (Journal of
Environmental Medicine) (2002, No. 44) 18-20.
The "p" factor for the mattress-wrapping intervention was calculated by Dr
Kapuste (in collaboration with the University of Munich) as being:
p = less than 1.9
x 10-22
It is usual in medical circles to regard a "p" of less than 0.01 (10-2)
as sound proof of a scientific proposition; and if the "p" is less than 0.001
(10-3), that is regarded as
virtually certain proof.
1.9 x 10-22 (the "p" factor
for mattress-wrapping) can be written as: 0.000,000,000,000,000,000,000,19
Put another way, the statistical proof that
mattress-wrapping prevents crib death is one billion billion times the level of
proof which medical researchers generally regard as constituting certain proof
of a scientific proposition. Not surprisingly, therefore, Dr Kapuste described
the toxic gas theory for crib death and mattress-wrapping for crib death
prevention as having "overwhelming reliability".
In 2004 the results of the New Zealand mattress-wrapping
campaign were published by Dr Sprott in the Journal of Nutritional &
Environmental Medicine (September 2004) 14(3), 221-232.
The toxic gas theory for crib death explains every risk factor which medical
researchers associate with crib death.
A considerable amount of research
relating to the toxic gas theory has been published in peer-reviewed medical and
other scientific journals. In fact, mattress-wrapping for crib death prevention
is supported by wider research than supported the introduction of various items
of orthodox crib death prevention advice (including face-up sleeping).
According to Dr Sprott (who has a PhD in
chemistry and is expert in the gas generation concerned), every step in the
toxic gas theory for crib death has
been proved. And the ten-year New Zealand experience provides practical proof
that mattress-wrapping prevents crib death.
Some orthodox crib death researchers say
that crib death rates in various countries have fallen without the introduction
of mattress-wrapping – and they have. But there is a crucial difference: many
babies have died of crib death where parents followed orthodox crib death
prevention advice; but there has been no reported crib death on mattresses
wrapped in accordance with Dr Sprott’s mattress-wrapping protocol.
Unlike orthodox crib death
prevention advice, mattress-wrapping has a 100% success record in
crib death
prevention.Have the results of
the New Zealand mattress-wrapping campaign been reported in medical literature?
In 2002 a German environmental medicine
practitioner, Dr Hannes Kapuste, published the statistical results of the New
Zealand mattress-wrapping campaign: "Giftige Gase im Kinderbett" ("Toxic Gases
in Infants' Beds”), Zeitschrift fuer Umweltmedizin (Journal of
Environmental Medicine) (2002, No. 44) 18-20.
The "p" factor for the mattress-wrapping intervention was calculated by Dr
Kapuste (in collaboration with the University of Munich) as being:
p = less than 1.9 x 10-22
It is usual in
medical circles to regard a "p" of less than 0.01 (10-2)
as sound proof of a scientific proposition; and if the "p" is less than 0.001
(10-3), that is regarded as
virtually certain proof.
1.9 x 10-22 (the "p" factor
for mattress-wrapping) can be written as: 0.000,000,000,000,000,000,000,19
Put another way, the
statistical proof that mattress-wrapping prevents crib death is one billion
billion times the level of proof which medical researchers generally regard as
constituting certain proof of a scientific proposition. Not surprisingly,
therefore, Dr Kapuste described the toxic gas theory for
crib death and
mattress-wrapping for crib death prevention as having "overwhelming
reliability".
In 2004 the results of the New Zealand
mattress-wrapping campaign were published by Dr Sprott in the Journal of
Nutritional & Environmental Medicine (September 2004) 14(3), 221-232.
What does Dr Sprott say about orthodox crib death prevention advice?
1) Don't smoke around your baby.
Recent history refutes any suggestion that smoking causes
crib death, says Dr Sprott. Smoking was very common in Britain in the 1930s and 1940s, but crib
death was virtually non-existent. Smoking is prevalent in present-day Russia
and Japan, but the crib death rates are low. No cause-and-effect relationship
between smoking and crib death has been established – they are socio-economic
parallels. Put another way, smoking is more common among poorer people, and so
is crib death. But it does not follow that smoking is therefore a crib death
risk factor.
2) Don't bedshare with your baby if you also smoke or smoked
during pregnancy.
Misleading advice, says Dr Sprott. The risk posed by bedsharing does not arise
from smoking – it arises from the mattress. Adults' mattresses very frequently
contain the same chemical and fungi as babies' mattresses, and therefore they
can generate the same toxic gas/es. (For physiological reasons adults are not
put at risk by this gas generation in mattresses.)
3) Sleep your baby with feet to the foot of the crib.
According to Dr Sprott, this practice affords no protection whatsoever against
crib death. Any area on an unwrapped mattress where a baby sleeps is a potential
source of toxic gas, since that is the area which becomes warm and moist
(promoting the fungal activity which can cause gas generation).
4) Sleep your baby face up.
Face-up sleeping is a partial preventive against crib death. This is because
the gases which cause crib death are more dense than air. They diffuse away
towards the floor, and therefore a baby sleeping face up is less likely to
inhale them.
What about the theory that crib death has a number of causes (the so-called
"multifactorial" theory)?
Clearly wrong, says Dr Sprott. At this
point he draws attention to a highly significant piece of information about crib
death: the crib death risk rises from the first baby in a family to the second,
and rises again from the second baby to the third, and so on. Babies of solo
parents have a very high crib death rate.
Dr Sprott explains that the rising rate of
crib death from one sibling to the
next destroys every medical and physiological theory for the cause of crib
death.
* For example, some researchers think crib
death is caused by babies re-breathing their exhaled carbon dioxide. However,
all babies exhale a similar amount of CO2, regardless of whether they are first,
second or later babies. Therefore, the rising rate of crib death from one
sibling to the next refutes the CO2 theory.
* Some researchers think crib death is related to the size of babies' airways.
However, for this theory to be valid would require second babies' airways to be
smaller than those of first babies; and third babies' airways to be smaller than
those of second babies; and so on. Clearly, therefore, the airways theory
is wrong, because the size of babies' airways is not related to birth order.
So what is the explanation for the rising rate of crib death from one sibling to
the next? Crib death is caused by gases generated in mattresses - and many
parents re-use mattresses from one baby to the next. If a mattress contains any
of the chemicals concerned and fungi have become established in the mattress
during previous use by another baby, generation of toxic gas commences sooner
and in greater volume when the mattress is re-used.
This accounts for the rising rate of crib death from one sibling to the next.
It also accounts for the very high crib death rate among babies of solo parents,
who for economic reasons are more likely to sleep their babies on previously
used mattresses which they have acquired secondhand.
What about
the claim that vaccination causes crib death?
Vaccination is not the cause of crib death – however, various studies
demonstrate that vaccination is a crib death risk factor. The way in which
vaccination increases the risk of crib death is as follows:
Any circumstance which reduces the efficiency of a baby's immune system, or
which causes the baby to have a higher than normal body temperature, will make
the baby more likely to succumb to the gaseous poisoning which causes crib
death. If the temperature in a baby’s crib increases by 3C (say from 37C to
40C), the rate of gas generation increases by 10 to 20 times.
Since, therefore,
vaccination can adversely affect the immune system (temporarily) and increase
body temperature (due to the minor infection caused by the vaccine), it can make
a baby more susceptible to the cause of crib death.
However, if the baby's mattress is correctly wrapped for crib death prevention
and the correct bedding used, there is no risk of crib death associated with
vaccination, since the wrapping prevents exposure to the gas/es concerned.
Therefore, the fact that a baby sleeping on a correctly wrapped mattress has
been recently vaccinated becomes irrelevant as regards
crib death. The baby may
experience the common physical symptoms following vaccination, but
crib death
will not ensue.
Could the wrapping of the mattress in a
BabeSafe cover cause a baby to
sweat or overheat?
If sweating/overheating occurs on a
BabeSafe-wrapped
mattress, it is not caused by the mattress wrap. As a matter of thermodynamics,
the layer of polyethylene co-polymer which comprises the cover is so thin in
relation to the thickness of the mattress that it has no measurable effect on
the rate of heat transfer from the baby to the mattress itself. Put another
way, the overheating is not caused by the BabeSafe
cover.
If sweating/overheating occurs on a wrapped mattress, it is the result of too
much bedding on top of the baby, or too much clothing on the baby, or
overheating of the baby’s room.
Babies have a GREATER capacity than adults to
retain their body heat, and LESS capacity than adults to cool themselves down.
Therefore babies should be lightly dressed for sleep, and their required bedding
is less than an adult requires to keep warm.
When sleeping in their cribs:
(a) Babies should sleep in loose baby
gowns or pajamas.
(b) They should not sleep in any item of clothing which encloses their
feet (such as a jumpsuit or socks) or which encloses their hands.
(c) They should not wear bonnets or
helmets, since much of their body heat loss (which is essential) occurs
via the head.
(d) It is fine to wrap a baby in a
pure cotton diaper or other pure cotton sheeting.
In
respect of bedding used on top of a baby:
(a) Babies should
use no more than two pure wool or pure cotton overblankets;
(b) In a centrally-heated home, one
pure wool or pure cotton overblanket may be sufficient.
Note:
The overnight temperature in a baby's
room should not exceed 17-18 degrees Celsius.
Email questions to:
info@happynursery.com
Call us at:
(910) 717-3128
Read Dr. Sprott’s book
‘The
Cot Death Cover-Up?’. This book is available for purchase using
our Secure on-line shopping cart, or by calling (910) 717-3128
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