Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is defined as: "The sudden death of an infant under one year of age which remains unexplained after a thorough case investigation, including performance of a complete autopsy, examination of the death scene, and a review of the clinical history." SIDS is the leading killer of infants between the ages of 1 week to 1 year of age. SIDS happens to approximately 1 out of every 500 infants born annually.

It is difficult to pinpoint risk factors for SIDS Deaths. It is also impossible to pinpoint the cause of death to ANY factor. However, evidence seems to suggest the following items as risk factors:

• Maternal Smoking
• Poor or non-existent pre-natal care
• Hard drug use
• Young Moms
• Male infants more often than female
• Second child is more at risk than the first

According to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Website information, SIDS is not:

• Sleep Apnea
• Predictable. There are NO signs or symptoms
• Preventable
• Infant Botulism
• Caused by stupid, dumb, or uneducated parents
• Caused by colds
• Munchausen's by Proxy
• Caused by fire retardants in mattresses
• Caused by suffocation;
• Caused by vomiting or choking
• Contagious
• Hereditary
• The result of neglected illness, accidents, or abuse
• Anyone's fault

For a list of frequently asked questions about SIDS, please follow this link.

Sleep Peacefully

One of the scariest things parents worry about is SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). We really don't know what causes a SIDS death. The baby appears well, and is put to bed. Later, the baby is found after it has died. Although it has never been discovered what causes a baby to die, experts recommend always placing your child on his or her back to sleep.

No one is to blame for a baby that dies from SIDS.

Here are some DO's and DONT's that will make sleeping safer for your young baby:

**Tooele health department