Weeks 1 & 2 in review :)

I have learned quite a bit these last couple of weeks, of how we shape and become who we are.  Of all things read and watched I really learned something new! Surprise?  Not really!  In chapter 3 of our texts it talks about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).  For starters I had no idea how high the the rate for SIDS was, "1-3 of every 1,000 American babies dies from SIDS."  My bestfriend growing up became pregnant at the young age of 15 and had a baby boy.  When he was 2 1/2 months old he died from SIDS, saddest day ever!  I myself was still young and didn't understand why and how the death involving SIDS happens and it wasn't like in 1995 I could just Google it, internet was expensive and the internet was just starting to become what it is today.  The only answer I could ever get was it "just happens".

In reading our text it states, " Scientists don't know the exact causes of SIDS, but one idea is that 2- to 4- month old infants are particularly vulnerable to SIDS because many newborn reflexes are waning during these months and thus infants may not respond effectively when breathing becomes difficult."  This statement really strikes me as odd....  Why is majority of babies that die of SIDS between the age of 2- to 4- months old?  Due to reflexes?  I would think that it would be much sooner than 2- to 4- months because as a baby is first born they have to aquire these reflexes and clearly by the age of 2- to 4- months these reflex milestones should be reached.  Furthermore, SIDS can be linked to premature at birth, low birth weight, physiological stresses brought on by cigarette smoke, breathing brought on by being temporarily interrupted, or being overheated.  These are all answers to questions that I had 17 years ago and could not get an answer. 

A more serious attribute to SIDS was the fact that infants were sleeping on their stomachs opposed to their backs, consequently while on their stomachs if the infant wasn't able to move their head from side to side or hold it up all together the infant would suffocate.  In 1994, a national program was launched to teach parents the importance of sleeping their infants on their backs.  Since the campaign was launched the rate of SIDS has dropped. 

I often wonder, had my bestfriend been taught the importance of not sleeping her baby boy on his stomach could this tradgedy have been prevented????  I have a 7-year old daughter in which I slept on her stomach while an infant and she still does to this day.  Could she have been 1-3 of every thousand American babies born to die of SIDS because I listened to my mother?  In the early 80's when I was born I don't believe there was much controversey over how an infant slept, therefore, most infants slept better on their stomaches opposed to their backs and that's how the mother would let them sleep.  I kinda looked at the situation as women had been having children for many, many years prior to myself and their children were ok so why wasn't it ok for me to listen to my mother?  I slept on my stomach and lived to have my own child.  I would be really interested in doing further research to see the statistics of how many babies die of SIDS after or before the age of 2- to 4- month old infants.