Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

SIDS is the leading cause of death in infant’s age 1-12 months in the United States and can be prevented. I have been exposed to the topic of SIDS throughout my career in Early Childhood, especially in the past 6 years, when I began working for The Resource and Referral Network. In Maryland SIDS is a required training potential childcare providers need to take before they can become licensed. I offered this training at the office once a month and usually had to cancel it due to lack of registration. It took me awhile to understand why, if this class was a requirement, were they not registering for it? Then I learned the reason, it is offered online. I understand the convenience of online classes, but for a topic as important as SIDS it should be an in class training only. I feel it is important that providers understand what can cause SIDS and what they can do to prevent it. In class trainings give providers the opportunity to interact with the instructor and other classmates, ask questions, listen to personal experiences some may have had, and gain a real understanding of SIDS. I have heard many stories over the years of babies sleeping on sofas, regular beds, and wrapped in blankets, it makes me cringe to think of the possibilities of what could have happened to those children. I also feel that it is important that parents attend these classes also. When I was on the referral line I found many new, young, and low-income parents that were unaware of what SIDS was.

Like the United States, Hong Kong is reporting the major factors they are seeing for SIDS is: parental smoking, bed sharing, tummy sleeping, sleeping on soft bedding, overheating, and several other unsafe sleeping habits. They are also embarking on a campaign to educate the public on the possible causes of SIDS and what can be done to prevent it. SIDS is prominent in both countries; however by being proactive and educating the public the United States and Hong Kong have been able to reduce the number of deaths caused by SIDS.

After learning more about the possible causes of SIDS, and the fact that it is a preventable disease, I want to be able to focus some of my efforts on educating the community on the reality of SIDS and the devastating results it has on families and let them know that that does not need to be the case. It is my hope that the more I am able to educate people on the causes and prevention of SIDS they will take that information and pass it on to another part of the community, an so on. I want to get the ball of information sharing going! I would like to see in the near future that SIDS is no longer the leading cause of death in infants 1-12 months.