I chose to talk about Sudden Infant Death (SIDS) because I had a classmate who experienced this with her daughter. SIDS has left many with unanswered questions as to what exactly causes it, what factors play a role in either increasing or decreasing the likely hood of it happening.
After reading, I have to ask, can we really list SIDS as a cause of death if we really don’t know what causes it. There has been an ongoing debate for decades about what actually causes SIDS. Here we are today, 2011, still torn about the cause of SIDS. The US is among the highest while China, Japan, and South America lead with the lowest cases of SIDS. Between 1970 and 1974 Japan had 37 infant deaths directly after vaccination and raked in 17th place for SIDS. This led them to do a study and boycott vaccinations to see if the vaccinations play a role in SIDS. Vaccinations were stopped completely for two months, which meant that no child received a vaccination until their 2nd birthday. They found that SIDS had pretty much disappeared; however when they lowered the vaccination age to 3 months, SIDS rose again.
Fiona MacRae. (2011, October 28). Babies 'should share a bed with their mother until the age of three' [Eire Region]. Daily Mail,11. Retrieved November 11, 2011, from ProQuest Central. (Document ID: 2496558781).
Temeka,
ReplyDeleteI also had a friend in high school that I recently found out had lost her son to SIDS about a year ago. What a tragic loss to a family and it must lead the mother to so much guilt as there is no ability to pinpoint what caused it. I have heard the controversies over front versus back sleeping, not putting children in with soft blankets or stuffed animals, not co-sleeping, and other suggested causes for SIDS, but I was unaware that vaccines were suggested as a possible cause. How frightening to have to choose between vaccinating your child against very contagious, life-threatening diseases and the possibility of the baby dying anyways due to SIDS. I hope as the research is being done and more ideas are coming forward, that at some point a cause of SIDS is found and can be eliminated.
I never knew that immunizations could be linked to SIDS. That is very eye opening information. I hope they keep doing research to find out more about SIDS. I am fortunate to not have anyone close to me lose a child due to SIDS and I hope I never do. I think it would be very difficult to not know why an infant died.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing. I find it quite interesting that immunizations were linked to SIDS in Japan. It would be interesting to see what immunizations they gave and read a more extensive study on it. As a pregnant mom this is one area of infancy that has me paralyzed with fear so I find myself researching the topic at random times. In the professional capacity I wish the Japanese had done a study longer so more information could be pulled because now as a potential new mom it has made me wonder even more! :) However, all knowledge is good to have and this would have never occurred to me.
ReplyDelete