ExplainLikeImaFTM: What's the deal with SIDS?

I'm trying to plan my nursery and holy crap opinions are everywhere about where and how your baby sleeps--though I heard few reports of babies actually sleeping. I've read the WebMD, March of Dimes, and Wikipedia pages on SIDS, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. I don't mean to sound overly-skeptical, but the SIDS phenomenon sounds really medieval and spooky and I'm not sure how seriously I should take the current precautions.SIDS:-kills babies <6m without a trace when their sleeping but only when they're sleeping at night-more male babies are affected than females-African American babies are more affected-presumably caused by soft mattresses, blankets, stuffed animals, crib bumpers, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, a room temperature that's not "cool" BUT SIDS is not suffocation or heat-stroke.-sleeping on the belly or side--please disregard that bit a few years ago when Science said babies will die if they're not on their belly.-SIDS might as well be prevented by smearing lamb's blood around the threshold for all the doctors seem to know about it.I'm kind of at a loss for how to do the right thing. There's many parenting sects that promote co-sleeping (along with contraindications for heavy sleepers, obesity, soft mattresses, and intoxication, etc.) and I've always liked the idea of a Montessori nursery that features a floor bed (though this is out of the question for us because we have poisonous spiders in our area). I thought I had my nursery problems solved when I found a reg. sized bed that the baby could keep forever (it had everything: USA-made, no harsh paints, removable safety rails, firm eco mattress) and that I could share with him while he was tiny in his own room (separate from hardworking, light-sleeping husband). The idea of putting my baby in a cold room, away from my bed, in some off-gassing monstrosity, without the afghan my grandmother crocheted is so. weird. to. me. HELP. via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2z5dnsv