I choose to focus on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS),
this is a public health topic that is meaningful to me. This is meaningful to
me because it is something that suddenly happens with no warning. When I had my
first child I was terrified of SIDS, I was consistently checking on my child to
make sure he was still breathing. The first few weeks of his life, my husband
and I took shift; I stayed up until about 2am with him, and my husband was up with
him after 2am. Now we are both able to sleep while our child is sleeping, and we
trust he is safe. I believe it is vital to raise awareness about SIDS and
things that can be done to prevent SIDS. Things that parents can do that helps
prevent SIDS is placing the infant on their back to sleep, having nothing in
the crib with the infant, keeping the room at a comfortable temperature to
prevent overheating, breastfeed the infant, and offer them a pacifier (https://safetosleep.nichd.nih.gov/).
Those are just a few things that can be done to prevent SIDS, although nothing
is guaranteed prevention. In 2017 about
1,400 children died from SIDS in the United States, the United States has a 6.2
deaths per 1,000 live births. (https://www.cdc.gov/sids/data.htm).
After much research, I found that Japan and the Netherlands have the lowest SIDS
rate of 2.8 pre 1,000 live births. The reason that the SIDS rates are so low
is from breastfeeding and shared sleeping (https://www.romper.com/p/why-are-asian-babies-least-likely-to-die-of-sids-all-cultures-are-different-49423).
Shared sleeping is frowned upon in the United States, but in Japan, it is encouraged
and has many beneficial factors and does not affect the child’s independence (https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-levine-cosleeping-bedsharing-global-20160916-snap-story.html).
This is important to know in for my future work because I work at a preschool
that has children from 6 weeks- 5 years old. As an educator, it is my job to
educate parents on safe sleep and how to do it. After learning that Japan has
lowered SIDS rates, and they share sleep, I will be sharing this information with
the parents I work with. I believe they should be educated on this topic so
that they can choose what is best for them. This information is also essential
to know for the children sleeping at the preschool, this way I can help prevent
SIDS there as well.
Great post! I am terrified of SIDS. I have been doing my own research on SIDS and I feel so scared for the next couple of months with my soon-to-be born baby. I think I'll take your approach and take shifts to ensure the safety of my child. I have read numerous articles talking about having the crib empty and making sure that baby doesn't overheat. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this valuable information. As educators it is important for us to stay abreast of current research and recommendations to prevent SIDS so we can inform our families and help them understand the precautions we take in early childhood programs such as laying babies on their backs, not putting blankets and such in cribs, and even the limitations on swaddling. These conversations can be tough to navigate when many cultural traditions are in conflict with the SIDS prevention guidelines.
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