A study published this week compared the sleeping environments of babies who died of SIDS with randomly-selected babies who were matched by race, ethnicity, country of origin and age, and found that a fan placed in the baby's room was linked to a 72% decrease in the incidence of SIDS. The gain was greatest when babies were sleeping in a warm room, which is considered a risk factor for SIDS, or sleeping on their stomachs (please place yours on his or her back; this is one of the most important steps to avoiding SIDS, which is still not fully understood).

On the New York Times' Well blog, Tara Parker-Pope writes:

While the study wasn’t designed to identify why fans make a difference, the theory is that by circulating the air, fans lower the risk of “rebreathing” by the baby. The rebreathing of exhaled carbon dioxide trapped near an infant’s airway has been suggested as a possible reason SIDS risk is higher when children sleep on their stomachs, in soft beds or without pacifiers.

- Jeremiah