Is SIDS Caused by Toxins in a Baby’s Mattress?

SIDS, the unexpected death of a seemingly healthy child under the age of one, is every parent’s worst nightmare. There doesn’t seem to be any warning signs or direct causes. Some experts maintain that children can’t be revived even if they are found early during a SIDS episode. We do know that since the Back To Sleep Campaign began and fewer babies have been put on their tummies to sleep, the SIDS rates have been drastically reduced. Dr. Jim Sprott believes he has found the definite cause of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and it isn’t even close to previous theories.

SIDS seems to be a sleep disorder since it usually occurs while a baby is napping or in his crib at night. The question is, it is a neurological malfunction or an environmental interference, such as blankets and stuffed animals causing an obstruction? New Zealand chemist and forensic scientist, Jim Sprott, says it is none of these. He claims to have proof that noxious fumes inside mattresses are killing babies and that properly wrapping mattresses reduces the risk of SIDS to zero.

So, why haven’t more people heard of this theory? If it is true that Sprott has found a foolproof way of preventing SIDS, why isn’t he on the cover of every magazine in the world? Shouldn’t he be accepting a Nobel Prize while we’re at it? Although he hasn’t made Time’s Man of The Year cover yet (or even Weekly World News for that matter), he does have his own website entitled Cot Life 2000. The purpose of this site? You guessed it: he’s selling mattress covers.

It is a very bold statement that Jim Sprott is making when he says that no baby has ever succumb to SIDS while sleeping on one of his “properly” wrapped mattresses. Since parents are naturally paranoid about losing their children to this silent killer, the mattress covers Sprott is pedaling have sold in the thousands. Yet, there still isn’t any mainstream coverage of what should be the medical discovery of the century.

I would advise that you visit Sprott’s site and judge for yourself. Maybe there is something to this poisonous mattress theory, but it still wouldn’t explain why some children die of SIDS in their car seat or even in the arms of their parents. It also wouldn’t explain why every mattress company in the world isn’t being sued right now. (Sprott goes the usual route when asked that, using words like “conspiracy” and “cover up”.) One thing is certain: SIDS is the number one killer of children under the age of one and parents are desperate for any sliver of insurance. Unfortunately, that may involve being hustled by men like Sprott.