Child Development and Public Health

Child Development and Public Health

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)


Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is important to me because I lost my only daughter, Brittany, to this. She was born in 1984 and was 2 1/2 months old. She was my second child. My pediatrician instructed me to lay her on her stomach while sleeping, with no other things in her crib, because after all that is how my first baby, born in 1980, slept. I was devastated to wake up to my daughter’s tragic death, while frantically trying to revive her with infant CPR. I thought I was doing everything right as a parent, I followed all the rules. How could this happen? I had no knowledge of SIDS at the time. I blamed myself.  I called it the silent killer. Now I have a lot more education about SIDS and many rules and regulations have changed. Pediatricians are now telling parents to put their babies on their back while sleeping in their cribs and they discourage co-sleeping.

Traditionally, most middle-class U.S. Infants slept in cribs in their own rooms; it was feared that they would be traumatized if their parents had sex. By contrast, most infants in Asia, Africa, and Latin America slept near their parents, a practice called co-sleeping, and sometimes in their parents ‘bed, called bed-sharing. In those cultures, nighttime parent-child separation was considered cruel. Even today, at baby’s bedtime, Asian and African mothers worry more about separation, whereas European and North American mothers worry more about privacy. (Berger, 2006, p. 140) Many ethnic groups co-sleep with their babies as a cultural practice. Instead of arguing against it, experts sought ways to make it safe. (Ball & Volpe, 2013) One thing that was created was the “co-sleeper” an attachment to the parents’ bed that avoids soft quilts or rollover danger. (Berger, 2006, p. 141)

Susan Beal, a young scientist with four children studied SIDS deaths in Australia for four years responding to phone call, after phone call from mothers who babies have died. She realized that parents tended to blame themselves and each other, so she sought to get them to talk to each other. One thing they all had in common. Their babies were asleep on their stomachs. She concluded that sleeping position mattered. Beal convinced a large group of parents to put their newborns to sleep on their backs and almost none of them died suddenly. After several years of gathering data she drew a conclusion of : Back-sleeping protected against SIDS. Her published reports (Beal, 1988) caught the attention of doctors in the Netherlands where they were telling parents to put their babies to sleep on their stomachs. Needless to say doctors stopped giving that advice and SIDS was reduced in Holland by 40 percent in one year. In the United States in 1984 SIDS killed 5,245 babies and sadly, my daughter was part of that statistic. Since then the number of SIDS deaths have been steadily decreasing. (Berger, 2006, p. 163)

Currently, parents are given a lot more information about SIDS before leaving the hospital after childbirth and the dangers of children sleeping on their stomachs and co-sleeping. The promoting campaign is called Safe Sleep here in Michigan. My job is to inform my parents of safe sleeping techniques and the dangers of co-sleeping. I also express the importance of having a crib or play pen for babies to sleep separately. We have resources for families who cannot afford a crib; they are provided with a play pen. We give our families pamphlets to read and also explain to families what happens when you fall asleep at night when you think you would never roll over on your baby. I am passionate about this subject even though I am saddened by the death of my daughter; I love having the opportunity to potentially save someone else’s child.

Reference

Berger, K. S. (2016). The developing person through childhood (7th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers










I am very grateful that God blessed me with three healthy boys! Rest in Paradise Brittany! Until we meet again...