Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

Have you ever heard of this disease ??? Of course you won’t have heard of it. It’s very rare disease.Lets discuss about it in detail.

As per this disease , it causes sudden death of an infant less than 1 yrs. old. Death takes place mostly during the infants sleep. SIDS is also called as Cot death or Crib death. If the forensic investigation done after the death of infant , couldn't state a reason , then it is considers as SIDS.

Over years , many researches where done , just recently the cause for SIDS is found. It is caused due to abnormalities in brain stream. A recent study showed that , the infant who died due to SIDS had lower levels of serotonin.Hannah Kinney of Harvard says that the lower level od serotonin , which comprises the medulla’s ability to regulate certain functions , as result of which the make the baby unable to detect when the don’t get enough oxygen.

SIDS affects boys more than girls. It affects 90% of infants  younger than 6 months. Till know there is not exact reason for the causes of SIDS. And there is no exact prevention.

But you can try some of these measures.

• Get proper medical checkup during pregnancy . Assure you take nutritive food. They can reduce the risk of SIDS.
• Do not smoke or use cocaine, morphine, heroine, tobacco during pregnancy.
• Avoid becoming pregnant if your teenager.
• Wait at least one year between the birth of a child and the next pregnancy.The shorter the interval between pregnancies, the higher the SIDS rate.
• Make the baby sleep in their back always
• Keep watching the baby , crib the baby in parents room itself , till it reaches 1 yr old.
• Don’t over cloth the infant when he/she is asleep.
• Avoid exposing the baby to tobacco smoke.
• Always breast feed the baby.
• Don’t expose baby to people who have respiratory problems or infections.
• If you see any change in baby’s skin i.e., turning blue or not breathing , immediately rush to the pediatrician.

These preventive methods can help.

SIDS cannot be predicted or prevented. Even it’s cause is not known. But mostly it is due to SMOKING and TOBACCO usage.