Case Study: Preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

“My baby is not breathing!” Thus begins the too-often heard emergency call to 911 when a frantic parent finds their infant has stopped breathing. The sudden, unexpected death of an infant under the age of one year is classified as a Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID). SUID encompasses Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), Unknown Causes, and Accidental Suffocation and Strangulation of an infant in bed. Of the three categories, SIDS is the most prevalent cause of infant death, responsible for 45% of infant deaths among children less than one-year old as reported by the Centers for Disease Control (Data and Statistics, 2015). Also known as crib death, the cause of an infant’s sudden death is not

I fed him about 30 minutes ago and he was sleeping.” Most SIDS deaths occur when infants are 2-4 months old and often after being fed (Odle and Frey, 2015). Although exactly why SIDS occurs is a mystery, researchers have identified a number of characteristics that are linked to the syndrome. One hypothesis suggested is that placing an infant to sleep on his or her back will help prevent SIDS. “The prone or side sleep position can increase the risk of rebreathing expired gasses, resulting in hypercapnia and hypoxia,” according to an American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) study (Moon, 2011). Thus, in the early 1990s, AAP released its recommendation that infants be placed to sleep in a non-prone position. The “Back To Sleep” campaign, has since been renamed “Safe to Sleep,” has been responsible for educating parents and caregivers know to place their infant on his or her back to reduce the number of SIDS-related

Swaddling a newborn infant is a protective measure to ensure that the infant does not get too cold while adjusting to temperatures outside the womb. While swaddling is beneficial for the newborn infant, according to a Quebec Public Health Institute study, a child is more likely to die from SIDs when the temperature is higher than 84.2 degrees, especially during the age period of three to twelve months (Arnold, 2015). The study also indicates that SIDS deaths that occur in winter are often because the infant is dressed too warmly. “Plenty of SIDS deaths occur in winter when babies are dressed too warmly, and the same could occur during heat waves when houses may be air-conditioned to the point of chilliness,” prompting parents or caregivers to overdress the child (Arnold,