Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) "WHAT IT MEANS TO ME"

When I was a teenager, my infant female cousin died from SIDS.  SIDS was not her initial diagnosis for death.  Originally, the doctors said she had measles and mumps and her death was a result of my aunt giving her a bath, which resulte in her breathing to stop in her sleep.  This brought upon a number of issues, animosity, within the family.  Before the family feuds could diminish; the doctors retrieved their initial diagnosis to deemed her cause of death, SIDS.  Until then, our family had never experienced such a tragedy.  SIDS was not a part of our vocabulary.  A couple of years later, my male cousin died in his sleep at the age of twelve.  According to information provided during research for SIDS, he was too old to have suffered from SIDS.  Since he just stopped breathing in his sleep; his death was classified as "SIDS".

In 2009, we lost one of our babies, from the family day home, to the wrath of SIDS.  It was the most dreadful experience that I think I have ever had to deal with.  Our staff and family members, of our children, were devasted.  I had provided care for this baby since birth.  I kissed him and loved on him on Friday upon his departure from the daycare.  Then I received a phone call from his grandmother the following Saturday evening with the news of his death.

Until the death of our child, in the daycare; I thought that my family was infected with some inherited disease in my family that had not been detected and it was so cruel to have attacked and taken the lives of our younger generation of children.  After his death, I felt that SIDS was just a made up name used to group together unexplained deaths in children.  It is believed in all other countries, that this is a tragedy among infants.  If this is so, how do we explain the death of cousin (12 years old)?

There has been research in order to explain the cause and effects of SIDS.  There isn't any proof that this public health measure has anything to do with a country's economy, laws, or cultural norms.  There was a Scottish study that showed 87% of SIDS deaths occurred in unsafe sleep environments (Martin JA, Hamilton BE, 2009).  This means that there is no one cause of SIDS and there is no concrete preventative action to totally elliminate this tragedy. 

In conclusion,  I would like to learn, possibly provide, more concrete information and evidence regarding SIDS.  There is no excuse for a society with such extreme limits of technology and research; should settle for such a broad array of cause and effect of a disease that steals the life of our innocent babies.



References:

Martin JA, Hamilton BE, Sutton PD, Ventura SJ, et al. Births: Final data for 2006. National vital statistics reports; vol 57 no 7. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2009.  Retrieved from: 
http://www.cjsids.org/resource-center/sids-statistics.html