According to an article, “Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is defined as the sudden death of an infant less than 1 year of age that cannot be explained after a thorough investigation is conducted, including a complete autopsy, examination of the death scene, and review of the clinical history” (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013).
“SIDS is the leading cause of death among infants aged 1–12 months, and is the third leading cause overall of infant mortality in the United States. Although the overall rate of SIDS in the United States has declined by more than 50% since 1990, rates for non-Hispanic black and American Indian/Alaska Native infants remain disproportionately higher than the rest of the population. Reducing the risk of SIDS remains an important public health priority” (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). Today, SIDS rate is very low because many people are being educated about this problem.
This topic is meaningful to me because I had a cousin who died of SIDS many years ago. She was being placed in a crib on her stomach and the mattress she was sleeping on was not firm. She also had toys, soft bears, pillows, blankets, and bumper pads in the crib. The doctor informed my cousin that placing the baby on her stomach and all of the items that she had in the baby’s crib contributed to her death.
I did the same thing with my first child. I placed him on his stomach occasionally but mostly on his side. In his crib, he also had bumper pads, blankets, pillows, soft bears, and other items in his crib. After attending a class and becoming more educated about SIDS, I immediately put a stop to it and started placing my children on their backs and nothing was allowed in their cribs, just a firm mattress and a fitted sheet.
According to an article, “The infant mortality rate (the number of infant deaths per thousand births) in Australia in 1901 was a little over a hundred. Mind you, this was better than England and Wales (128 per 1000), France (144) and Russia (272). The big killers in those days were the childhood infectious diseases like whooping cough, diphtheria, scarlet fever, and measles” (Lavelle, 2013).
“Today the infant mortality rate in Australia stands at just under six per thousand, thanks to better nutrition and sanitation, immunization, and antibiotics. In Australia, SIDS causes one death in about 1000 live births, or about 250 babies each year.
It's most common between the ages of two to four months, though it can happen to younger and older infants – it's rare over the age of 12 months. About 60 percent of cases involve boys and 40 per cent are girls” (Lavelle, 2013).
I used to work in the infant classroom (6 weeks to 12 months) for Early Head Start and parents were always asking me why the babies had to be placed on their backs because at home they were placing the babies on their stomachs. They told me that they thought their babies sleep better on their stomachs. I was always informing my parents about SIDS and how many babies are dying from it. The information I have learned about SIDS has helped me and I will continue to educate parents about placing their babies on their back instead of their stomachs. Also, my plans in the future is to own a childcare center. I will be able to educate caregivers, who will be working with the infants, on SIDS.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013). Sudden Unexpected Infant Death and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Retrieved November 9, 2013, from http://www.cdc.gov/sids/
Lavelle, P. (2013). ABC Health & Wellbeing. SIDS. Retrieved November 9, 2013, from http://www.abc.net.au/health/library/stories/2003/05/29/1831797.htm
You gave great information about SIDS and I'm sure it will be informative to a person who doesn't know much about it. I chose this topic as well because I knew someone whose child died from SIDS. It's sad that children die from this but we must educate parents about how serious this is. In 2010 this was considered to be the third leading cause of death among infants. The safe sleep campaign was started in efforts to educate people about SIDS so that they could reduce the risk.
ReplyDeleteHi LaShaunda,
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear about your cousin who passed away from SIDS. Someone else in our class said they knew a neighbor who also died of SIDS. It's much more common than I thought. Thankfully research has taught us that there are steps we can take to help prevent SIDS. I think that hospitals are doing a really good job educating new parents about the risks. My friends recently came home from the hospital with their newborn twins and were informed and given handouts about SIDS and Shaken Baby Syndrome (now called Abusive Head Trauma). I'm glad to know that there are campaigns dedicated to informing caregivers about important issues such as these. Thank you for your post!
Wow! I am so sorry to hear about your cousin. I think before all of the research about SIDS was done, people were just not aware that SIDS was such a problem. I think the use of the bumper and other items in the crib at the time were seen as a safety measure, but was instead the source of the problem. I don't personally know anyone who has had a child die from SIDS, but I feel like I do now having read some of this weeks blogs. Thank you for sharing something so personal to you.
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