Child Development and Public Health

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is the unexpected, sudden death of a child under the age of 1 in which an autopsy does not show an explainable cause of death. This topic is meaningful to me because my best friend's baby, Rylee died from this horrible syndrome last September at the tender age of 4 weeks.  The picture above is of our beautiful Rylee.  SIDS is a very traumatic experience because there is no closure and so many unanswered questions.  There are many factors that supposedly contribute to the increase of SIDS, but neither Rylee nor her mother fit any of these categories....Rylee's mother never smoked, Rylee did not have soft bedding, Rylee did not sleep on her stomach, and Rylee's mother had adequate prenatal care.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in India

During the past year in Kolkata, Malda, Burdwan and Berhampore in West Bengal, there has been a sudden risein the Infant Mortality Rate in government run hospitals.  This year, according to MA Rashid, Vice Principal of Malda Medical College, two hundred forty eight children were born between January 1st and January 25 of 2012.  Of these, eighty seven babies died due to unknown causes.  Fifty eight of them were premature or underweight and the cause remains a mystery. (Rao, Apekesha, 2012).

I am going to continue to research and try to stay abreast of ways to help parents deal with the pain and grief of losing a child to an unknown cause.

References:

Sation Magazine.  Issue 18:  7 February-22 February, 2012. Rao, Dr. Apekesha