I selected Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS as most people refer to it because it is something that can occur to any child between the ages of one month to a year. SIDS can occur in any socioeconomic standing or culture and is defined by a child under the age of ones death that is not explained after investigation.
SIDS is the leading cause of death among infants. It can be caused by the child sleeping on their tummy, sleeping in an adult bed or being around second hand smoke. Ways to prevent SIDS is by sleeping the child on a firm mattress, keeping the child's body temperature level and if possible sleep with a pacifier which has been shown to decrease the chances of SIDS.
Across the world, SIDS can be defined differently. Some countries consider SIDS to happen between birth and one year and up to one month and one year. Also difference in investigation and autopsy can establish differences in the cause of a child's death. But in every nation there is several cases of SIDS every year, that occur the same here in the United States.
I found public health information on SIDS highly important because it is a common fear of parents of infants because there is no way to predict it or firmly stop it from happening. The more information that is out there, the better suited parents will be to protect their babies from SIDS. I also selected this because it can happen to any family and any part of the world, it is unfortunately a common death around the world that everyone is impacted by.
Resources:
Cj foundation for sids. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.cjsids.org/resource-center/what-is-sids-suid.html
Hauck, F. (2011). International trends in sudden infant death syndrome: Stablization of rates requires further action. Pediatrics: Official journal of the american acadmey of pediarcs, 303(5), 430-437. Retrieved from http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/122/3/660.long
I've had many training on SIDS and each time I do it constantly reminds of how important it is to finding ways on preventing it from happening. Many people still love to dress the crib with beatiful decorations and place their favorite stuff animals inside. I hope that people at this time understant how important it is to be safe and realize that you don't have to dress up the crib but think about the child's health instead.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post on SIDS. This is a topic that as a mother of four has led me to lose a lot of sleep in the first 18 months of each child's life. My last son was born with a genetic condition that made his muscles very weak. He from birth had a condition called laryngomalacia which is where the vocal cords are floppy and will fall down over the airway. He had to be on a sleep alarm for the first 4 months of his life because of his increased risk of SIDS. I don't think there is anything scarier than the thought that your baby could go to sleep and just not wake up and no one can explain why. My hope is that further research will lead to better ways of dealing with the threat of SIDS. I followed all of the suggested ways of keeping my children safe but there was still that faint ill at ease feeling when I would lay down at night. SIDS affects so many people nationwide and has devastating effects. Thanks for the information, I appreciate your research.
ReplyDeleteThank you for an informative post. SIDS is definitely a mother’s worst nightmare. I remember when my children where young how the way you place an infant to sleep kept changing from the side with my first born to on their back by my third child. Prevention of SIDS was one of the reasons of the adjustments.
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