SIDS facts in Germany

The topic that I chose for this weeks blog is SIDS.  SIDS stands for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.  SIDS is a death to an infant that there is usually no explanation as to why they died.  The baby or infant could appear to be a healthy baby, but die usually during their sleep, which is why SIDS is also known as a crib death.  There are several different symptoms that are said to be the main cause of this SIDS health disorder. Some include: 

• sleeping on the stomach (in the prone position)
• mother who smokes during pregnancy; smokers are as much as three times more likely than nonsmokers to have a SIDS baby
• belonging to an economically deprived or minority family
• mother under 20 years of age at pregnancy
• prematurity or low weight at birth

This topic is important to me because I do not have any kids right now, but when I do have kids, it is important to know the type of things to not do to prevent this from happening to a newborn or infant.  It is also important to know that not only if someone smokes, but just being around smoke could enhance the chance of their baby suffering from this health disorder.  The last reason why this topic is important to me, it will allow me to help others around me that have young ones and warm them about the symptoms and causes of SIDS.  

The area of the world that I searched on information about SIDS is in Germany.  These are some of the facts that I found interesting about SIDS in Germany.

         * In 2002, there were 359 infants that died from SIDS.

         * SIDS is the leading cause of death after the post neonatal stage.

         * Risk factors were identified, such as prone sleeping position, smoking of the mother during   

            pregnancy and heat stress.

         * SIDS occurred most frequently at the age of 2–5 mo (59%) and, as described in other studies on 

            SIDS, male infants (60.4%) had a higher risk than females.

         * Co-sleeping with an adult has a higher risk of SIDS in the infant.

This information provided above goes to show that  even the little actions a woman does while she is pregnant, she needs to be very careful throughout pregnancy and at the infant stage.  Just being around smoke will not only increase SIDS, but also other health disorders in the baby.  The information that I have learned about will help me in my future work because when I have a baby, I will be extra careful to not be around smoke.  If I working at a child care facility, I would have to be very careful and constantly checking on the child and making sure they are breathing.  I would also do my best to make sure that I did not lay the baby on his or her back to sleep.  Working in a child care with babies or infants at such a young age, I would just make sure that I paid close attention to them, even if they looked like they were okay.  

http://www.schwanger-in-bayern.de/fileadmin/content/sb_themen/gesundheit/sids/results_of_gesid.pdf

http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/sudden+infant+death+syndrome