SIDS

 SIDS presentation with Peggy Regensburg PhD.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is the sudden death of an infant (1 month to 1 year) to which there is no found cause of death even after thorough work-up. SIDS is therefore a diagnosis of exclusion.

It has been associated with babies who are placed to sleep on their tummies and as such National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has coined the ‘Back to Sleep’ slogan which encourages guardians to place babies on their backs when putting them to sleep.

Although not a part of SIDS, the sleeping environment plays a huge role in child safety in the infancy stage. The things we may find ‘cute’ may in fact be deadly to an infant. For example, until a baby has full control of his/her head, a pillow is a suffocation hazard and is therefore not necessary in a crib. Many babies have been found lying face down on their pillows because they were unable to lift their heads.

Other ‘cute’ hazard include but is not limited to: blankets, stuffed animals/toys, crib decorations and a baby sleeping on an adult bed with an adult- these have all been the direct cause of fatalities of cases presented. 

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