What we should know about SIDS and what we as parents ans caregivers can do !!
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Cot Death or SIDS ( Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) is described as the sudden and unexpected death of an apparently healthy infant under one year of age. The diagnosis of SIDS is only made after all possible causes have been ruled out through post mortem , death scene investigations and review of the infant’s medical history
Death usually occurs during the night between midnight and 9am. Victims are generally normally developed babies between 1-6 months of age, with the incidence peaking between 2-3 months of age and very rare after 6 months.
SIDS is a worldwide phenomenon and is the most common cause of death in the age group of one month to one year. In the UK on average 7 babies every week die from cot death.
Some evidence suggests that infants with SIDS have an abnormality in the area of the brain that controls the respiratory system resulting in control mechanism that is unresponsive to the usual arousal stimuli.
However, with all the research that we have today, we still do not know why babies die of cot death. Researchers are clear on one thing, and that is that cot death is not due to a single cause but rather a combination of causes or factors which adversely affect some babies.
Since the launch of the “Back to Sleep” and the “Safe Sleep” campaign several years ago ,there has been a 50% drop in the incidence of cot death in the USA,UK and Australia.
Advice on sleeping positions and sleeping arrangements, exposure to cigarette smoke, thermal insulation and recognition of illness were factors which lead to this remarkable drop.
