Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Around the
World
SIDS is called crib-death in North
America and cot-death in England. SIDS is when an infant goes to
sleep and never wakes up. No one knows the reason for this feared
family tragedy. Research has been done to test theories of this
mystery.
Susan Beal studied every SIDS death in
South Australia seeking any and all circumstances and found some
interesting commonalities. The mother's smoking and lambskin
blankets seemed to be a couple of commonalities. She also found
genetic make-up of Chinese descent helped to ward off SIDS. Chinese
babies always slept on their backs, while European babies slept on
their stomachs. Susan developed a hypothesis that sleeping on the
back would decrease the risk. She had a large group of non-Chinese
people all put their babies to sleep on their backs. Almost none
died(Berger, 2012).
Pediatricians in the Netherlands began
telling parents to put babies to sleep on their backs. In Holland, 2
scientists began recommending back-sleeping and SIDS was reduced by
40% in one year(Berger, 2012).
Some things you may not know about
SIDS:
SIDS deaths have declined by more than
half in every country since 1990 when the “Back to Sleep”
Campaign was initiated (SIDScenter.org).
The instances of SIDS is equal in girl
and boy infant deaths.
There are no symptoms or warning
signs.
Doctors think one cause is the
inability for the baby's body to detect a buildup of carbon dioxide
in the blood(A.D.A.M., 2011).
Some doctors think the baby has
problems with its' ability to wake up.
Approximately 2 infants out of 1,000
will die from SIDS(RightDiagnosis, 2011).
Always keep baby's head uncovered
while sleeping(Disability online, 2000).
The following are linked to increased
risk of SIDS(A.D.A.M., 2011):
Stomach sleeping
Smoking environment
Co-sleeping (sleeping in the same bed
as parents)
Soft bedding
Premature births
Siblings who had SIDS
Mothers who smoke
Late or no prenatal care
Poverty situations
The American Academy of Pediatrics
(AAP) guidelines recommend the following(A.D.A.M., 2011):
ALWAYS sleep on back
Breastfeed when possible
Offer a pacifier when going to sleep
Put baby to sleep in same room NOT in
same bed
Have tight-fitting mattress cover and
avoid thick, soft blankets
Keep temperature cool. Do NOT
overheat baby
Support Groups for victims of
SIDS(Sidscenter.org):
This topic has always interested me, especially when I became a new mom. My husband had a child from a previous marriage die from SIDS. So I was very conscious about the issue and what not to do. I don't believe that I slept through the night until my son was 10 months old. He would stop breathing sometimes 10 times a night. The doctor said "don't worry about it until he stops for 10 seconds or more. Babies just forget to breathe." Really?!? I worried more then. I had a co-sleeper brand bed that butted up to the side of the bed and I slept across the width of the bed so I could rest my hand on him. There were many nights I had to wake him. One night in particular I remember putting my hand on his chest and there was nothing. I waited a few seconds then I grabbed him up. It scared him into breathing. I cry just remembering that time. I did all of the right things to avoid SIDS and the only increased risk was the sibling with SIDS. I was lucky; I cannot imagine losing a child to SIDS.
References:
A.D.A.M. Medical Encylopedia. (2011).
Retrieved January 18, 2014 from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002533/
Berger, K. (2012). The Developing
Person Through Childhood. New York, NY. Worth Publishers.
Disability Online. (2000). Sudden
Infant Death Syndrome Statistics. Retrieved January 18, 2014 from
http://hnb.dhs.vic.gov.au/dsonline/dsarticles.nsf/pages/Sudden_infant_death_syndrome_statistics
National SUID/SIDS Resource Center.
(2011). Statistics of SUID and SIDS. Retrieved Janaury 18, 2014 from
http://www.sidscenter.org/Statistics_OLD.html
Right Diagnosis.com. (2011). Statistics about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Retrieved January 18, 2014 from http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/s/sids/stats-country.htm
Hello Kim,
ReplyDeleteGreat reading your blog. I am glad to see you are back this semester. I am sorry to hear about your husband’s loss of his child. I lost a child; he was four, so I understand the pain of it all. It was not due to SIDS but it still is painful. I worried with all of my children and the SIDS epidemic. I was always watching them sleep to make sure they were breathing in their sleep, too. I was guilty though of allowing them to sleep with us though. I knew it was wrong but it was the only way that we could get some sleep. I enjoyed reading all the facts about SIDS, too.
Kimberly,
ReplyDeleteThank you for providing information about SIDS, I wanted to know more information about SIDS but I was torn between researching SIDS and access to clean water and I chose the latter. I really appreciate your post because I learned a couple of things that I did not know; for instance I did not know that you should always keep baby’s heads uncovered when they sleep, and why is co-sleeping a risk? As you know I am a preschool teacher and I have a very close relationship with most of my parents, many of whom have shared with me that they co-sleep with their children. If you could provide me with an answer to why they should not be co- sleeping with their children or if possible give me a link to access the information I can research it myself and share it with my parents it would be greatly appreciated.
SIDS is a devastating thing to happen to anyone, I’m sorry you had to deal with some of the symptoms of SIDS however, as we know but not for the grace of God your situation could have turned out differently. Thank you for sharing your story it was very touching, I know you are a great mom, God bless!
Danita, the reference links of sids.org and ADAM medical encyclopedia are great to get more information on co-sleeping. But, from my perspective, it is because 1) parents could roll over on the baby and smother it; 2) blankets and comforters used on the parents bed could smother if the baby ends up covered; and 3) the baby gets too hot (this is a biggie). Thanks for your reply!
Delete