- Placing me on my back while sleeping
- Giving me a pacifier at nap and bed time
- Keeping me out of a grown-up’s bed
- Removing all toys from where I sleep
- Not allowing adults to smoke around me
- Keeping me from getting overheated
- Breastfeeding me as often as possible
What is SIDS?
SIDS Defined
SIDS, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, refers to the sudden and unexplained death of an infant under one year of age, even after a complete autopsy, examination of the death scene and review of the clinical history.
Description
- SIDS is the number one cause of death of infants under one year of age and strikes more than 2,500 families in the United States each year.
- More babies die of SIDS in a year than all babies who die of cancer, heart disease, pneumonia, child abuse, AIDS, cystic fibrosis, and muscular dystrophy combined.
- SIDS is a diagnosis which is made only after a death and when all other possible causes of death have been ruled out by a complete investigation and autopsy.
- There is no test that predicts which babies will die of SIDS
- SIDS affects families of all races, religions, and income levels.
- SIDS occurs during sleep, and strikes without warning.
- SIDS victims appear to be healthy.
What Causes SIDS?
- We do yet not know exactly how or why SIDS happens, though it appears that SIDS may be caused by some subtle developmental delay, an anatomical defect or functional failure.
- Researchers at Harvard and Dartmouth have, in fact, isolated a neurochemical defect in a portion of the brain of SIDS victims that controls the infant's protective responses to changes in oxygen and carbon dioxide levels.
- SIDS, like other medical disorders, may eventually have more than one explanation and more than one means of prevention. This may explain why the characteristics of SIDS babies seem so varied.
