Low serotonin levels may cause cot death
Filed under: Sudden Infant Death — Alan @ 6:08 am
Research conducted at Harvard Medical School suggests that babies with a low level of serotonin are more likely to suffer ‘cot death’, or sudden infant death (SIDS).
Findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that babies who died of cot death had a level of serotonin in their brain tissue that was about 26% lower than that found in babies whose death resulted from other causes.
The serotonin hormone is the one known to control sleeping and breathing patterns, and lack of a sufficient or ‘normal’ amount of the hormone leaves the baby unable to respond instinctively to reduce oxygen flow to the brain. A baby with adequate levels of serotonin will turn its head even in sleep if the oxygen getting to the brain is constricted.
This can happen when babies sleep on their stomachs. Without the ‘wake-up call’ from this hormone, the baby may suffocate without shifting position or waking.
What scientists refer to as the medullary serotoninergic system controls not only breathing and waking from sleep, but also blood pressure and body temperature. To this date researchers have not confirmed all the factors that may contribute to low serotonin levels. They are certain that sleeping face down, cigarette smoke and respiratory ailments are all probable culprits, usually with two or more of these factors involved.
Until a specific and effective test of infant serotonin levels can be found, parents can reduce the risk of SID by putting the baby to sleep on its back in a separate bed in their bedroom, not smoking, and breastfeeding.
A new report released today points to alcohol and drugs as the reason why more than half of all cot deaths may result from a baby sleeping with a parent on a sofa, or in a bed.