Another link between breastfeeding and SIDS prevention

The Mommy Blawg posts a blurb on another possible SIDS preventing aspect of breastfeeding: breastfed babies wake more easily. I'm not sure that science completely supports the proposition that breastfeeding prevents SIDS--after all some breastfed babies still die from SIDS--but breastfeeding seems to provide some protection against SIDS. However, even the suggestion that breastfeeding could lessen the risk of SIDS was enough for me to commit to breastfeeding for the first year. Heck, the mere suggestion of SIDS reduction also led me to allow my daughter to use a pacifiereven though it was supposed to be bad for our breastfeeding relationship--it wasn't. I cannot think of many things more horrible in life than having medical professionals tell you they simply have no idea why your perfectly healthy baby died.

I think that what we now call SIDS, will someday be shown to be a variety of conditions or diseases each with a different "cure," although breastfeeding, with its natural immune systems boosters, will be part of the solution in many cases.