The Australian: Breastfeeding 'reduces SIDS risk' [April 29, 2004]: "Breastfeeding 'reduces SIDS risk'
By Louise Perry
April 29, 2004

AFTER years of debate Melbourne researchers have come closer to proving breastfeeding reduces a baby's chances of dying from SIDS.

A baby's difficulty in waking up is thought to be one of the main factors in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

The Monash University researchers found two to three-month-old babies who were breastfed woke up more easily than babies of the same age who were fed with formula.

The research, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, studied 43 healthy babies who had been breastfed or formula fed, and looked at how readily they woke from their two basic sleep states - quiet sleep and active sleep. Active sleep is a deep sleep when dreaming occurs and usually kicks in towards the morning, which is when babies normally succumb to SIDS."