Babies who sleep in rooms with fans have a lower risk of sudden infant death syndrome, a new study shows. Young infants who slept in rooms with fans were 72% less likely to die from SIDS, according to a study released published in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. When the temperature in the room was higher than 69 degrees Fahrenheit, the use of a fan was associated with a 94% decreased risk of the syndrome. The research included a survey of 185 mothers of infants with a confirmed diagnosis of SIDS and mothers of more than 300 randomly selected infants.

The researchers said that the fan circulates fresh air and it decreases the change of “rebreathing” exhaled air. The risk of SIDS is higher when babies sleep on their stomach because stomach sleeping can increase an infant’s risk of “rebreathing” his or her own exhaled air.

Dr. De-Kun Li, the lead author of the study also found that using a pacifier can also help reduce the risk of the syndrome. A research on the same group of infants found that use of the pacifier cut the risk of SIDS by 90%. Sleeping in a room with an opened window also seemed to reduce the risk of SIDS.

SIDS kills about 2,500 infants annually and is the leading cause of death in that age group. However, since 1992 the rate of SIDS deaths has dropped by more than half, to about one death per 2,000 live births from 2.4 per 1,000. The decline in SIDS deaths from 1992 to 2003 was attributed to the recommendation that infants be placed on their backs to sleep rather than their stomachs.