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Babies and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

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Sudden infant death syndrome Dianoises

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is a sudden and unexplained death of an apparently healthy child aged from one month to one year. The term cot death is often used in the united kingdom and crib death in North America. SIDS is a definition of exclusion and should only apply to an infant whose death is sudden and unexpected, and remains unexplained after the performance of an adequate postmortem investigation including an autopsy, investigation of the scene and circumstances of the death, and exploration of the medical history of the infant and family. In most cases but not always, the infant is found dead after having been put to sleep and shows no signs of having suffered. The inexplicability of SIDS often leaves the parents with a deep sense of guilt to add to the grief they will be feeling.

Risk factors and statistics

SIDS is responsible for around 50 deaths per 100,000 births in the U.S. It is responsible for far fewer deaths than congenital disorders and disorders related to short gestation, though it becomes the leading cause of death in otherwise healthy babies after one month of age.

Very little is known for sure about the possible causes of SIDS, there is no proven method for complete prevention. The syndrome, known as SIDS, involves the sudden and unexplained death of an child under one year of age. Usually, a baby is found dead after having been put to sleep and shows no sign of having suffered. Although studies have identified risk factors for SIDS, such as putting infants to bed on their stomachs, there has been little understanding of the syndrome’s biological causes. The frequency of SIDS appears to be a strong function of infant sex (61% male) and the age, ethnicity, education, and socio-economic status of the parents.

A study was published in October 2006 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, babies who die of SIDS have abnormalities in the part of the brain that helps control functions like breathing, blood pressure and arousal. Researchers examined the brains of 31 babies who had died of SIDS and 10 who had died from other causes. They found that abnormalities in the brain stem appear to affect the ability to use and recycle a chemical called serotonin, which is responsible for regulating mood as well as vital body functions. According to the National Institutes of Health, which funded the study, the new finding is the strongest evidence to date suggesting that innate differences in a specific part of the brain may place some at increased risk for the syndrome.

Risk Reduction for SIDS

Sleeping area

Allthough SIDS cannot be prevented parents of infants are encouraged by pediatricians and popular parenting books to take several precautions in order to reduce the likelihood of SIDs.

Sleep positioning

Place the infant on their back to sleep. Among the theories supporting this habit is the idea that the small infants with little or no control of their heads may while face down inhale their exhaled breath or smother themselves on their bedding. Another theory states that babies sleep more soundly when placed on their stomachs, and are unable to rouse themselves when they have an incidence of sleep apnea (i.e., breath-holding, which is thought to be common in infants).

Prenatal risks

Inadequate prenatal care, Inadequate prenatal nutrition. Tobacco smoking, Use of heroin or any type of substance like that. Teenage pregancy, Less than one years interval between each birth. Alcohol abuse. Post-natal risks

Laying an infant to sleep on his or her stomach (see positional plagiocephaly). Failure to breastfeed, Excess clothing and overheating. Excess bedding, soft sleep surface and stuffed animals/toys. Gender (61% of SIDS cases occur in males). Age (incidence rises from zero at birth, is highest between 2-4 months and goes towards zero at one year). Low birth weight (especially less than 1.5 kg (3.3 lb), Exposure to tobacco smoke.

Baby Monitors

The use of baby monitors, particularly those with motion sensors can allow the parents to remotely keep track of their child and respond if the child is in distress.There are monitors which can tell you if your childs breathing is slowing or has even stopped.

Cot bumpers/pads

Cot bumpers/pads may be a contributing factor in SIDS deaths and should be removed.Health Canada , the Canadian government’s health department, issued an advisory recommending against the use of cot bumpers/pads with the warning that they may decrease the amount of oxygen rich air available to the baby.The presence of cot bumpers/pads in a cot may also be a contributing factor for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). These products may reduce the flow of oxygen rich air to the infant in the crib. Also proposed theories indicate that the rebreathing of carbon dioxide plays a part in the occurrence of SIDS.

Pacifiers

In 2005 a study showed that the use of a pacifier is associated with a 90% reduction in the risk of SIDS. It has been speculated that the raised surface of the pacifier holds the infant’s face away from the mattress, reducing the risk of suffocation. Although suffocation is an actual cause, while SIDS refers to an unexplained infant death in the absence of sufficient postmortem investigation, a SIDS diagnosis may be the result.

Secondhand smoke reduction

According to the U.S. Surgeon General’s Report ’secondhand smoke is connected to SIDS’. Infants who die from SIDS show to have a higher amount of concentrations of nicotine and cotinine (a biological marker for secondhand smoke exposure) in their lungs than those who die from other causes. Infants exposed to secondhand smoke after birth are also at a greater risk of SIDS. Parents who smoke can greatly reduce their children’s risk of SIDS by either quitting or smoking outside only and leaving their house completely smoke free. It should also be noted that residue from smoking forms on the smoker’s hands and can rub off on an infant exposing the infant to harmful chemicals in cigarettes, although this may not necessarily contribute to SIDS.

Sleeping area

Allthough SIDS cannot be prevented parents of infants are encouraged by pediatricians and popular parenting books to take several precautions in order to reduce the likelihood of SIDs.

Sleep positioning

Place the infant on their back to sleep. Among the theories supporting this habit is the idea that the small infants with little or no control of their heads may while face down inhale their exhaled breath or smother themselves on their bedding. Another theory states that babies sleep more soundly when placed on their stomachs, and are unable to rouse themselves when they have an incidence of sleep apnea (i.e., breath-holding, which is thought to be common in infants).

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