SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME (SIDS)

Just like any other bright afternoon Anastacia a young mother fed her child, washed her and breastfed her till she slept. Baby Angie was an adorable baby, six months old. Anastacia then laid her child to sleep in bed. As the day progressed three hours later, Baby Angie had not woken up, so Anastacia got worried and thought, “maybe I should just wake her up.” When she got to where the baby was, she realized that she was stiff, she wasn’t breathing at all. Anastacia tried waking her up but there was no response on rushing her to the hospital she was dead. What caused her death was a mystery because Baby Angie was not ill, she was in perfect health.

Sudden Infant death Syndrome (SIDS) is a sudden death of an infant between one month and twelve months (one year). It is important to note that most infants who are affected are six months and below. This is because they still need lots of help with supporting themselves. Sudden infant syndrome does not have an exact course but it has lots of risk factors. The child at this age has lots of difficulties supporting their head, so there is a danger that when the head is not supported well, there can be an air obstruction in the windpipe as the child is sleeping. Most mothers put their baby to sleep on their stomachs. The danger of this is that the child cannot support their head so as they are trying to turn the head they end up sleeping on their face and in the long run the child dies because of suffocation.

According to Dr. Shikaro, Clinix, advises that a child of less than six months should be put to sleep on their back, he also brings to attention that, usually the babies who die from this syndrome turn pale, this in most cases indicates the presence of carbon dioxide accumulation in the infant; he also says that when an autopsy is done the infant’s organs are not damaged in any way and so it is difficult to know what caused the child’s death. Young couples who are having their first babies are at a higher risk of having these experiences because parenting is a new experience to them and so they need to be extra vigilant when taking care of their children. SIDS is not inherited and it does not exist in the genes.

Most people may think that SIDS does not affect them in any way, I strongly believe we all have young babies and infants in our midst, nephews, nieces, sons, daughters even the neighbours child or a friends child, be on the look out to save a child from Sudden Infant Death syndrome.