A health expert and CEO of Samolus Agrovet Services Limited, Dr Bayo Olufunwa, has underscored the importance of parents placing their new born babies to sleep face up and not on their stomachs, Nigerian Tribune reports.
He said there are lots of dangers associated with babies sleeping on the stomach especially when it is for a long period of time.
He gave this hint at a media chat as part of activities to commemorate his 70th birthday anniversary in Lagos.
According to him, so many babies below five months and who are healthy have died in their sleep without people knowing that the cause is wrong sleeping position.
Sleeping on the stomach, he said, could be very stressful for a baby, especially when he\she is left in that position for a long time unlike when sleeping facing up.
He explained that, this is because babies have no strength and ability to change their positions on their own even when they are feeling uncomfortable to counter stress, and if this condition persists for hours, it could result in breathing difficulty.
“And when a child is having breathing difficulty and his or her nostrils are partially covered again because of softness of the beds which further restricts oxygen into the body, such child may suffer over breathing which will lead to convulsion or coma and then death if left unattended to in time,” he stressed.
While identifying other risk factors that could lead to sudden death in infants to include lack of Vitamin C in breast milk due to the mother’s smoking habit, excessive exposure to heat or cold, underweight and premature delivery, among others, Olufunwa said so many sudden deaths associated with respiratory complications not only in children but also in adults and pregnant women, in particular, are preventable.
Giving example, he said complications from high blood pressure that can trigger convulsion or coma due to fast breathing by heavily pregnant women is 100 per cent preventable and no one should die of it again anywhere globally.
