Vibrating Mattresses Could Improve Breathing In Premature Babies

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- One in ten babies in the U.S. is born prematurely. They are at risk for all sorts of problems including remembering how to breathe.

As CBS2's Dr. Max Gomez explained, doctors may have come up with a very simple, life saving solution; a vibrating mattress.

Max Wylie's arrival into the world was more wild than his parents ever expected.

"He was two months early. He was 3 lbs 2 oz, and he was on the NICU for 32 days," Molly Wylie said.

Like many preemies, Max would stop breathing for short periods of time without warning.

"The first couple of times it's terrifying because you have no idea what happens, the alarms are going off," Molly said.

"It happens because their brains are still immature," Dr. Vincent Smith explained.

A possible treatment for the common, but serious conditions is a vibrating crib mattress.

"This stimulus surprisingly has been found to improve breathing in infants without waking them up," Dr. David Paydarfar said.

Conventional breathing monitors detect when the baby stops breathing, which triggers the mattress that has a speaker hidden inside.

It delivers soft vibrations that are slight, but enough to stimulate the baby's brain to start breathing.

"The dream would be that most infants who are premature would benefit from this," Dr. Paydarfar said.

An even bigger dream, far down the road, would be to offer in-home prevention of SIDS Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

"There is the hope that this could prevent those events," Dr. Paydarfar said.

First the mattress must go through another round of clinical trials in hopes of winning FDA approval.

"I could see this being used in NICUs throughout the country," Dr. Smith said.

Premature babies are sometimes given low doses of caffeine to stimulate their breathing, but they still need a monitor and something to jump start them if they stop breathing.

The good news is that premature babies almost always outgrow their apnea in two or three months.

So far the mattress has been successfully tested with more than three dozen premature babies in the intensive care unit.