Custom «SIDS» Essay Paper

Sudden infant death syndrome is the tragic demise of an infant without the expectation of the medical personnel and the cause of the death remains unexplained. Medical practitioners also refer to it as SIDS. Notably, SIDS mostly occurs when the child is sleeping thus, referred to as Cot death. Despite the fact that the cause of this death is unknown, there are characteristics that identified with it. One of the notable characteristics is lognormal age dispersion that spares infants immediately after their birth. Additionally, there is misappropriating affliction of the male child after birth since doctors allege that the male child faces high risks of sudden death unlike females. Apart from those, other issues can lead to the sudden death of the infant. Among them are maternal age, smoking, male child reduced room temperature.

This essay explicates the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, its causes, and methods of preventing it from occurrence.

Sudden infant death syndrome has been an enormous issue in different countries as many infants’ lives have been lost unexpectedly. As noted before, sudden infant death syndrome is unpredictable and lacks explanation even after occurrence. Notably, it usually occurs when the child is sleeping, thus referred to as Cot death. According to Gurbutt (2007), sudden deaths mostly occur to infants below the age of 6 months. The first month of the infant is mostly safe but infants between the ages of 2-4 months face high risks of dying unexpectedly. Additionally, since it is unexpected, the infant just feeds well and does not even show signs of sickness. However, they worst happens when the child is sleeping. The caregiver will later on find the baby lifeless and the cause of the death remains unexplained even with keen examination by medical practitioners. Despite that, the doctors have come up with different risks that may lead to the sudden death of the infant. The risks that exposed to the infant are in two categories, prenatal and postnatal. Prenatal causes are the ones that blamed on the mother due to poor care of the infant while the postnatal causes are the other universal causes. The sudden death of the infant is preventable and there are measures that the doctors have given out to guide the affected parties. However, suffocation is sometimes confused to sudden infant death syndrome.

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The Causes of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

First, there is the maternal age issue. Notably, the possibility of a sudden infant death decreases with the increase in the age of the mother. Doctors have confirmed that teenage mothers’ children are prone to sudden deaths unlike those of adult mothers. Although unconfirmed, the teenage mother’s hormones are not well developed and this leads to poor development of the fetus. Poor development of the fetus is risky since it can lead to miscarriage by the mother. On good occasions, the mother manages to give birth but to a child faced with risks. A huge percentage of the sudden deaths reported recently related to young mothers unlike older ones. Concerning that, doctors highly discourage conception by underage girls.

Second, the exposure to nicotine as the mother smokes. The sudden death of infants is most likely to happen if the mother indulged in smoking during pregnancy. Some women smoke while they are pregnant. Hatfield (2007) asserts that during pregnancy, the umbilical cord connects the fetus and the mother. Basing on that, the fetus feed and gets exposed to everything that the mother takes. Cigarettes notably have nicotine that is dangerous even to the health of adults who use it. This exposure of the fetus to nicotine is dangerous and affects its general development. In relation to maternal age issues, nicotine exposure to the child can cause miscarriage. However, the delivery of the child might be successful but with high risks of dying at a younger age. Smoking is highly discouraged for mothers who are yet to deliver. Apart from smoking during pregnancy, also exposing a newborn baby to the tobacco smoke is dangerous. This is among the prenatal causes.

Third, the lack of breastfeeding is another cause. A newborn child majorly depends on the milk of the mother for growth. The mother’s milk has high nutrients that help in development of the child’s body at an early. With this importance of the mother’s milk, breastfeeding is compulsory for better growth of the baby. However, there may be incidences that may lead to lack of breast-feeding of the child. For instance, death of the mother after/during birth may deny an infant the opportunity to breast feed. The child faces many risks of sudden death when they lack the mother’s milk. Sudden death is reportedly most likely to happen from the 2^nd month after delivery. This means that at the first month the child can survive since they would not have developed. However, the longer they stay without the milk the higher the risks the child faces. According to the medical experts, a child whose mother is not there to breast-feed needs to get normal milk. Although not the best, normal milk remains the best option that can save the situation.

Fourth, there is the elevated room temperature. Elevated room temperature is the same as reduced room temperature. The reduction of the room temperature implies that it is cold and or even freezing. Normally, the best room temperature for a child should be neither too warm nor too cold. Since the child’s body organs cannot adapt to extremes, favorable temperatures are ideal for them. Despite the fact that there is no detailed proof, doctors allege that low temperature can lead to sudden infants deaths.

Last, there is also premature birth. Premature birth is the cases where a delivery happens before the end of the 9 months. Normally, the human gestation period is 9 months. A normal birth should occur after the 9 months or just almost then. Reportedly, some women deliver as early as at 7 months. These children delivered prematurely get care from the incubator until they attain the nine months. A time they managed to develop well and grow up to adultery, while others do not manage. Among the reported cases of sudden deaths, most of them emerge from premature birth.

Methods of Prevention

With knowledge about some of the things that can lead to the sudden of infants, medical experts have given some prevention tips. Here are some of them.

First, breastfeeding is vital in prevention of sudden death. Medical practitioners allege that breastfeeding is vital for the child’s health. There are some nutrients ideal for child growth and the mother’s milk is the only source. According to the 2003 research carried out in Chicago, proved that more sudden deaths related to lack of breast-feeding unlike those who were breastfeed.

Second, pregnant women should not smoke. As noted above, nicotine is dangerous to the health of the fetus. Langwith (2011) affirms that the umbilical cord connects the mother and the fetus, thus the exposure of the child to everything that the mother feeds on. Smoking cigarettes is risky even to the health of adults and this may be disastrous to the child’s health. Additionally, exposure to tobacco needs complete avoidance.

Third, another measure is the use of fan for air circulation. As noted earlier, reduction of temperatures can cause the infants sudden death. The best measure to take for that case is the employment of a fan base. The fan increases the mixing of air in a room reducing the dangers of sudden death of infant’s syndrome. Normally, the infants sleeping environment is ideal. A room that an infant sleeps needs good ventilation for better air circulation. The infant’s respiratory usually is not as developed as the adults, thus sensitive to any shortcomings. The Chicago research shows that 72% of the infants who died did not have a fan base in their rooms.

Last, caregivers need to employ a better sleeping position. Sleeping on the back is highly recommended by the experts. The back to bed sleeping position is commendable since it enables the baby to breathe well unlike when facing down. An infant who is sleeping facing down faces the risk of inhaling the air that has exhaled which is high in carbon dioxide.

To sum that up, sudden infant death syndrome is the sudden demise of an infant without the expectation of the medical personnel and the cause of the death remains unexplained. SIDS usually occurs while the child is sleeping, thus Cot death. There are different causes warned against SIDS. Firstly, the exposure to nicotine as the mother smokes. The sudden death of infants is most likely to happen if the mother smoke during pregnancy. Some women smoke while they are pregnant. During pregnancy, the umbilical cord connects the fetus and the mother. However, it is ideal to identify different measures e.g. the use of fan for air circulation. As noted earlier, reduction of temperatures can cause the infants sudden death. The best measure to take for that case is the employment of a fan base. The fan increases the mixing of air in a room reducing the dangers of sudden death of infant’s syndrome.