What experts do know is that there's a lot you can do to prevent SIDS.

But monitoring a baby's breathing while asleep has not been shown to prevent SIDS.

This may help prevent SIDS, though experts do not know why.

Without either professional endorsement or scientific evidence that they prevent SIDS, apnea monitors are available to alert the caregiver if the baby stops breathing.

But you can help prevent SIDS by taking certain steps:

Swaddling was supposed to keep the babies on their back, in order to prevent SIDS.

There are products that are marketed to help prevent SIDS, such as ventilated mattresses.

Machines (apnea monitors) that are commonly used to detect these periods of interrupted breathing have not been shown to prevent SIDS.

Although commonly used, there is no evidence that these monitors prevent SIDS, and many doctors believe they provide a false sense of security.

They note that their findings and those from other studies support the idea that pacifiers help prevent SIDS.