The Mystery Behind SIDS

Millions of innocent babies die every year from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Some babies do actually die because of being suffocated by a sleeping mother, the majority of the time it is not. Parents worry every night as they put their little ones to bed whether or not they will wake up again. However SIDS still continues to baffle medical researchers around the world. Some reports have shown that some victims of SIDS were more than 300g lighter than their surviving sibling. So the noticeable differences would be lower mean weight and height at birth, the previous occurrence of a lack of oxygen, and recurrent profuse night sweats. Many doctors say that is usually occurs between 1 and 6 months.

Over the years many autopsies have been preformed on infants that have died as a result of SIDS. Some have attributed death to suffocation by pillows, bed clothing, and the babies’ posture while sleeping. However many babies will struggle their way out if they are unable to breath. I can go on and on about what many people think that the cause is, but the bottom line is that there is no one single cause of death. What you can do as a parent is eliminate the factors which can cause death. So the mystery will probably stay a mystery. But what really upsets me about this topic is how parents are automatically viewed with suspicion when their child dies from SIDS.

This causes additional unnecessary pain on the parents. Usually the police and medical personnel always seem to view the death as suspicious especially when it happens to twins. When I spoke with my pediatrician she said this is because no one really knows what causes it. But in my opinion the blame should not automatically go to the grieving parents. And even though we now know a lot more about SIDS and that it is a condition that parents have no control over, it still evokes suspicion.

There are several factors that make some children more susceptible to SIDS than others for example those that are born premature, and underweight. But it can also occur with a baby who was born perfectly healthy. The best thing that you can do as a parent is to take all of the precautions that you are given. For example do not leave pillows or blankets in the crib. In my experience with my children, I noticed that once they are able to roll over and hold up their head they can move the blanket or pillow themselves. As far as what the exact cause of SIDS is it will probably be a long time before we ever really know.