No abstract

for information about the thermal insulation of clothing 14 Nelson EAS, Taylor BJ, Weatherall IL. Sleeping position and infant bedding may predispose to hyperthermia and the sudden inf'ant death syndrome.

In summary, there is evidence that developmental changes in respiratory control and in thermoregulation have effects upon each other. Theoretically, such effects could give rise to failure of the respiratory system and there is some circumstantial evidence to support the concept that on occasions such interactions may be of importance in sudden unexpected death in infancy. Future research in this area should focus on the nature of the interactions between thermoregulation and respiration, and on the effects of infection and infection-related mediators on those interactions.

In a longitudinal, population based study, overnight temperature recordings were made in the bedrooms of 152 babies aged 3-18 weeks and the insulation provided by their bedclothing was assessed. Outdoor temperatures for the study nights were also available.Parents applied more insulation on colder nights with lower bedroom temperatures than on warmer nights (mean 8.5 tog at 15°C minimum bedroom temperature falling to 4-0 tog at 25°C). For a particular temperature they also applied 2 tog more insulation in winter than in summer.The amounts ofbedclothing used in the home were compared with insulation levels predicted to achieve thermoneutrality over a similar range of environmental temperature from heat balance studies in young infants. They corresponded closely.The The first was a descriptive study of what was actually happening in our community. It was undertaken by measuring bedroom temperatures in babies' homes and by discovering the type and amount of clothing and bedding that babies were sleeping under, throughout the year and longitudinally over the first few months of life. In contrast the second study was carried out in a laboratory environment using a series of heat balance measurements on a smaller number of babies to determine how much insulation was required to achieve thermoneutrality over a range of environmental temperatures comparable to those in the home. Methods COMMUNITY METHODS

Bottle feeding is not a significant independent risk factor for the sudden infant death syndrome. Patterns of maternal smoking, preterm gestation, and parental employment status account for most of the apparent association with bottle feeding.