Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is very meaningful to me for two main reasons, I have two young sons and I am going open a daycare this year. When my first child was born I was very nervous about SIDS, I would find myself waking up in the middle of the night just to make sure he was still breathing. I did the same with second son; such a nerve-racking first twelve months. This syndrome places parents in an uneasy situation because there is not an definite cause for SIDS. A lack of answers is part of what makes sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) so frightening. SIDS is the leading cause of death among infants 1 month to 1 year old, and claims the lives of about 2,500 each year in the United States (Kids Health, 2011).
The perception of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in Africa is very different from that of the United States. This syndrome carries a myth that the death of these babies is as a result of some sort of curse on the mother or the babies themselves or that the babies decide to come repeatedly back to this world to torment their parents.
This information does in fact affect my future work, in that I will have to do my best to prevent any children in my care from succumbing to SIDS. I will do this by laying all children under the age of 1 on their backs to sleep and tummy to play.
Reference:
Kids Health (2011). Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Retrieved May 14, 2011 from http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/sleep/sids.html.
It is so interesting to me how many other countries still look at supernatural causes for things like this. I know that mental illness is viewed similarly in many countries, which used to be the case here as well. Why do you think it is that we, as a country, have "graduated" out of these possession or curse type of explanations for stuff like this and many other countries that have been around much longer, still hold these beliefs?
ReplyDeleteI remember getting up through out the night to go check on my daughter as well. There's no telling how many times I got up to check on her. I also remember trying to educate my mother and mother-in-law about "Back to Sleep". When my husband and I were babies, infants were put on their tummies to sleep. My mother-in-law was especially difficult to "retrain", I even took her to a well-check appointment so she could hear it from the pediatrician. The funny thing about "Back to Sleep" is that in Japan they were putting babies to sleep on their backs 30-40 years ago or more. My husband's aunt married a Japanese man, and when their children were infants they had an almost war about how the babies were laid down. Rachel would lay Aiko and Shawn on their bellies, and Ted (his given name is Taketo) would come behind her a little later and turn them over. When Rachel would check them, she would return them to their bellies. It went on like that forever! When Halla was a very young infant and we were having this problem with my mother-in-law, Rachel and Ted came up for a visit. Ted was so funny, defending "Back to Sleep", becuase that is the way it has always been done in his culture and even Rachel admitted that he had been right all along!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you are open to educating yourself and the parents you will serve about ways to avoid SIDS. I remember when my oldest sister was pregnant with her first child. She was so excited and happy. Then her friend's infant died unexpectedly. The cause of death was SIDS. My sister was terrified after this because no one, not even her doctor had discussed ways to cut down the risk of SIDS. Unfortunately, it took this very terrible experience to make my sister begin to ask more questions. Her doctor gave her a pamphlet on ways to reduce SIDS. However, she was still very cautious and continuously checked on her child throughout the night. I think a little more information provided from her OB may have been helpful.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting that many people in the world have faith in curses. It is often difficult to help them when they don't understand what you mean. How can you fight a curse? There is just no way. I did read about a few programs in Africa that are trying to debunk that myth and get the people there the information they need to decrease SIDS deaths among infants. One such organization is called Kabissa: Space for Change in Africa. The website is http://www.kabissa.org if you want to check it out.