"JORDAN JOSEPH MILLER"
MARCH 26, 1994 - JUNE 12, 1994
This little boy did not ask to be born....
If I could turn back the hands of time, and do it all over again, I would
have held him as much as possible....
But having this unexpected loss happen was the furthest thing from my mind....
I did not put this page here with this information
to claim to give anyone a way to 'PREVENT' SIDS or to tell
them 'WHO' will fall victim to SIDS....
because NO ONE knows how to prevent SIDS or who will be a victim to it....
This is to let others know that it does happen.... and hopefully inform
people as to what SIDS really is.....
SUDDEN INFANT DEATH
SYNDROME
SIDS is sometimes called "crib death"
SIDS is the sudden death of an apparently
healthy infant that remains unexplained after the performance of a complete
postmortem investigation, including an autopsy, an examination of the scene
of the death, and review of the child's medical history. SIDS is a
classification that is used to describe a deceased infant. It is not a
disease, nor can it be a diagnosis for a living baby.
There appears to be no suffering in most cases;
death occurs very rapidly, usually during sleep. SIDS is the leading killer
of infants between one week and one year with an approximate rate of two
per thousand live births (1 in 500). 6000-7000 babies die of SIDS every
year in the US. That comes out to one baby dying of SIDS every hour of
the day. After 30 years of research, scientists still cannot find one definite
cause or causes for SIDS. Researchers believe that SIDS probably has more
than one cause, although the final process appears to be similar in most
cases. SIDS CAN NOT be predicted, prevented, or reversed.
THE
FACTS ABOUT SIDS:
1. Babies between 2 and 4 months old are most
often victims of SIDS, but older and younger babies also die of SIDS.
2. Death occurs in seconds, usually during sleep, and the baby does
not suffer.
3. Cases of SIDS have been reported through history, as far back as
the Old Testament.
4. Most SIDS victims have appeared to be healthy before death.
5. SIDS occurs in families of ALL social and economic levels.
RISK FACTORS FOR SIDS:
Note: Most babies with all the risk
factors LIVE and babies with no risk factors do die of SIDS. In most
cases a risk factor increases the odds from 2/1000 to 2/998. Also,
there is no "non risk" factor which anyone can point to and say "no SIDS
babies did/had this".
The major risk factors are:
1. Maternal Smoking.
2. Poor prenatal care.
3. Premature low birth weight infants.
4. Use of illegal drugs.
5. Young maternal age.
Oddly the majority of the deaths occur during
winter months, (October to April in the Northern Hemisphere), males
more commonly the victim, and the second child is more susceptible than
the first. The peak age is around two to four months.
Other risk factors for SIDS:
Prone (face down) sleeping position. (Child is found sleeping on its
stomach).
Multiple births.
Soft bedding, waterbeds.
WHAT
SIDS IS NOT:
There is no testing available to tell anxious
parents if their baby is potentially a SIDS baby. It is a diagnosis which
is made only after death, when all other causes have been ruled out. Currently,
there is nothing that can be done to prevent SIDS. Due to ongoing medical
research SIDS is NOT caused by the following:
1. SIDS is not caused by lack of love.
2. SIDS is not caused by suffocation, vomiting or choking.
3. SIDS is not contagious.
4. SIDS is not heredity.
5. SIDS is not caused by baby shots, vitamin deficiency, or hormonal imbalance.
6. SIDS is not caused by allergies or infection.
7. SIDS is not caused by a sleeping parent laying over on the baby.
SIDS is NOT:
1) Apnea (breathing stops); Many people have
apnea and apnea has killed infants. Infants with apnea can be resuscitated.
An apnea monitor (AKA cot monitor) can detect when a SIDS victim stops
breathing - but remember, a SIDS victim is already dead when that happens.
Note: Infants with apnea usually are placed on apnea monitors for apnea,
not to prevent the unpreventable. And many SIDS parents do use apnea monitors
on subsequent children - this has mainly a placebo effect on the parents.
2) Predictable; There are no signs.
3) Preventable; Some people think that if you do one thing or another (such
as breast feeding, co-sleeping, or laying baby on its back, etc.), you
can prevent SIDS. While doing these things may lessen the odds of
SIDS, there are SIDS victims who were exclusively breast fed, and slept
(placed on their back or side) with their parents. There is no known factor
which will prevent SIDS.
4) a near-SIDS; SIDS, by the definition, can not be a near or almost. Apparent
Life Threatening Events (ALTE) is the proper term for these types
of problems and this is a new area of pediatrics research. But an almost
SIDS is like an almost pregnancy -> impossible.
5) Infant botulism; Infant botulism and SIDS have a similar age of death
demographics but the botulism is easily found in an autopsy.
6) Caused by immunizations; Most children get their immunizations at about
four months which coincides with the average age. But children without
immunizations also die of SIDS.
7) Caused by poor/bad/stupid parents; SIDS happens to parents of all economic,
social, educational, and racial groups. Some cultures do not report SIDS
deaths or have no way to classify SIDS and this often leads some to say
that there are no SIDS deaths in country X.
8) Caused by Colds; Many infants get their first runny nose around four
months. A SIDS victim can die WITH a cold but not FROM a cold.
9) Munchausen by Proxy; Despite the flippant remarks by ABC Television
'reporter' John Stossel, SIDS is not Munchausen (Where a parent harms their
child so the parents get attention from doctors treating the child)!
10) Caused by fire retardents in mattresses; (The "Peter Cook" theory has
been debunked).
11) Caused by suffocation;
12) Caused by vomiting or choking;
13) Contagious;
14) Hereditary;
15) The result of neglected illness, accidents, or abuse.
SIDS is NOT anyone's fault.
When you lose a parent, you lose your past.
When you lose a spouse, you lose your present.
When you lose a child, you lose your future.
©1995-1996-1997-1998, SIDS Network,
Inc. All rights reserved. Permission to
use, copy, and distribute this document, in whole or in part, for non-commercial
use and without fee, is hereby granted, provided that this copyright, permission
notice, and appropriate credit to the SIDS network, Inc. be included in
all copies.
===================================================================
Copyright 1995-1997, Margaret
Gibbs. Use and copying of this information are permitted as long
as (1) no fees or compensation are charged for use, copies or access to
this information, and (2) this copyright notice is included intact.
===================================================================
Here is a present from a member of the "Angels of the Net"
"THANK YOU Linda ... My very first present"
And a present from Wendy, co-ringmanager of "Angels of the Net"
"THANK YOU Wendy"
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