Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

The topic that I chose to discuss is very dear to my heart. I chose Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS. I chose this topic because I have worked in the early childhood education field for over 12 years and within that time I have worked in the infant room and have learned that I really enjoy working with the infants more so than any other age group. I have never known an infant to die from SIDS and hopefully I never will but as being a teacher and wanting to go back to that age group, I will do everything to try to help with the prevention of this condition.

The definition for SIDS or crib death is  the unexpected, sudden death of a child under age one in which an autopsy does not show an explainable cause of death. Doctors do believe, however, that SIDS can be caused by several different factors including:

• Problems with the baby's ability to wake up (sleep arousal).
• Inability for the baby's body to detect a build-up of carbon dioxide in the blood.

In the United States, the rate of SIDS deaths have dropped dramatically since 1992. Most death occur between 2 and 4 months old. SIDS affects boys more often than girls and most of the deaths occur in the winter months.

Some of the links to SIDS include:

• Sleeping on the stomach
• Being around cigarette smoke while in the womb or after being born
• Sleeping in the same bad as their parents (co-sleeping)
• Soft bedding in the crib
• Multiple birth babies (being a twin, triplet, etc.)
• Premature birth
• Having a brother or sister who had SIDS
• Mothers woh smoke or use illegal drugs
• Being born to a teen mother
• Short time period between pregnancies
• Late or no prenatal care Living in poverty situations

Almost all SIDS related deaths occur without any warning or symptoms when the infant is thought to be sleeping.

To prevent SIDS related deaths, here are some tips.

• Always put a baby to sleep on its back.
• Only put babies to sleep in a crib
• Let babies sleep in the same room (NOT same bed) as parents
• Avoid soft bedding
• Make sure room temperature not too hot
• Offer baby pacifierwhen going to sleep

I also looked at Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in Argentina. All the characteristics, causes, and preventions are the same as the United States. The only difference is that in 2001, in Argentina, 301 out of 11,111 deaths of infants younger than one year old were attributed to SIDS.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is a condition that I wish didnot exist. Hopefully, with education and prevention the United States and Argentina will see a drastic reduction of SIDS cases.