This week I will discuss SIDS also known as Sudden Infant
Death Syndrome. Berger text defined SIDS as a situation where a healthy infant
usually between the ages of 2 to 6 months old stops breathing and dies unexpectedly
while asleep (Berger 2014). It was researched
the tens of thousands of infants were dying from SIDS. Here in North America it
is referred to as crib death and in England it is referred to as cot death. I
researched a few articles and found that more infants were dying from the
parents being uneducated about SIDS.
Berger had a
scientist Susan Beal who conducted research in South Australia in her research
she found that most infants that were from a Australian Asian ethnic decent had less deaths then Australians
that were from a European decent because their babies were being put to sleep
on their backs rather than their stomachs. She tested her hypothesis with
parents that were not from a Asian background to put their children to bed on
their backs and several years of research she found that back sleeping lessened
the cause of SIDS. The research caught the attention of doctors in Netherlands
where the parents were putting the babies to sleep on their stomachs advised by
the doctors. Many other doctors across the nation and nation to nation had started
advising parents about putting babies to sleep on their backs oppose to their
stomachs. The numbers of infants deaths had decreased most children that would
die as infants were from all different life styles but mainly infants from
under privileged communities died. Parents of infants that died were either
drug users, smokers, and bed sharing. I found some helpful tips from SIDS.org
website that can help reduce the risk.
The subject of SIDS is important to me because of a family
member that lost his daughter from SIDS. She was only 5 months old. Her parents
were young 22 and 23 years old. Her parents were smokers and they would bed
share with her. The night she died she was in the bed with her parents when
they woke up the baby was blue and cold. Very tragic for our family there were
4 births for our family but one child is gone she would have been 2 years old
November 11. I had just had my daughter before her death and after this
happened I would make sure my daughter was in safe sleep position. I have been
educated on safe sleep from working in child care for so many years and then it
hit home for me. They are expecting another child and I hope that they are
educated and will be more careful with how their infant sleeps. Most people do
not realize that even though they smoke outside that they should wash their
hands after smoking.
References
Berger,
K. (2012). Understanding How or Why. The Developing Person Through Childhood
(ed., ). New York: Worth Publishers.
SIDS
AND KIDS
