Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS is a condition in which there is no clear or apparent reason for the death of an infant in the age range of one to twelve months. SIDS has been described as sudden and immediate death of an infant with no apparent cause after a thorough investigation and autopsy is done. Some infants who appear healthy are not always healthy. Most of these infants gained weight, learn to shake a rattle, starting to roll over, and smiling at their caregivers die unexpectedly in their sleep. SIDS was a concern to me after I gave birth to my daughter, I was constantly checking to see if her chest was rising while she slept. I was so nervous I even put her in the bed with me so I could watch her sleep, instead of her crib. It has been stated in several studies that to help prevent SIDS it is recommended that your child be placed on their backs and not their stomachs. I allowed my child to sleep on my chest, her side, or her back.
This topic is important is important to me; because, I am a mother and I would not know how to cope with waking up to discover that child is not breathing. There has never been anyone around me in my personal life that has ever been through this type of situation, but I can only imagine how scary that can be. The questions that would come to mind for a parent as of what they could or should have done to prevent this from happening. I was very careful when it came to my daughter and SIDS I could have been described as obsessive when she first came home because of how I watched her sleep and even nap. It is said that the African American race has more deaths than any other race.
The country that I chose was New Zealand, because it was found to have had the most recorded deaths due to SIDS out of 12 countries in 1990; even though, there has been a dramatic decrease from 1990 to 2005 New Zealand still remained number one.
References:
The Developing Person Through Childhood 5ed.Kathleen Stassen Berger
http://www.cdc.gov/sids/
We both chose the same topic. Sometimes being a parent is so difficult because we want to protect our children from harm and danger, but sometimes we can't. You mentioned that you let your baby sleep with you, but I found research that states this can cause the child to suffocate as well. I just read an article where a lot of cribs are being recalled due to the increase of SIDS. All Family Child Cares and Child Development Centers are required to replace old cribs (within the next two years)with the new and improved cribs with hopes of a decrease in the number of infant deaths.
ReplyDeleteAs a mother, I can not imagine a worse tragedy than the death of one's child. I also kept my 2 sons in my bed when they were very young. My pediatrician said not to worry about it, lots of parents did it, that it was a personal choice. I just felt better knowing they were right there with me..to each his (or her) own, I guess : )
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad the research on this devastating condition is ongoing. Thanks for posting about this!