Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Sudden infant death syndrome, better known as S.I.D.S., is one of the

leading causes for the inflated infant mortality rate in this country today. It

is often misunderstood or unrecognizable. For the most part, the causes of SIDS

are unknown to the general public. This is changing, however, as public

awareness is ever increasing. Thus, the purpose of this paper will be to

explain sudden infant death syndrome and its known or suggested causes. Also,

the history of SIDS, the problems and emotional suffering that results from the

loss of a child, the toll it takes on the surviving sibling, and possible

counseling or other help that is available for parents who may have lost a child

to SIDS are such areas that will be explored. Overall I hope to achieve a

better understanding of all these suggested topics within the body of the paper.

SIDS is also commonly referred to as crib death. It is said to claim

approximately in the range of 6,000 to 7,000 babies a year within the

continental United States alone, with a slight increase each year (Bergman xi).

This would seem to be an astounding figure, but when the figure of the total

amount of babies that are born in the United States is compared to that of the

number of deaths due to SIDS, it accounts for only a small percentage. It is a

small percentage that hopefully can be reduced. And to any parents, the loss of

just one child is definitely one too many, despite of the statistics that are

currently available. During the first week of life is where most deaths that

are associated with prematurity dominate, SIDS is the leading cause of death

among infants under one year of age, according to Bergman. It ranks second only

to injuries as the cause of death in children less than fifteen years of age.

An unknown fact is that SIDS takes more lives than other more common diseases

such as leukemia, heart disease or cystic fibrosis (Bergman 24). Ironically it

was not until the middle of the 1970’s until SIDS was no longer ignored as being

a cause of death. For the most part, no research was being conducted, leaving

families and victims left to wonder why their babies died (Mandell 129). For

the family and friends of the family, who also are victims, this was definitely

a tragedy. Not knowing the cause of death had to have caused physical and

emotional ...

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