A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) addressed one of new parents’ greatest fears regarding their children’s health — Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). The report notes that approximately 3,400 infants in the United States die suddenly and unexpectedly every year. Approximately 32 percent of the deaths are reportedly due to “unknown causes.”
Researchers from Rutgers University found that the cause of death in infants younger than one-month-old is varied and can not be easily classified. However, the cause of death in children older than one month is “likely to be classified as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Physicians differentiate between children less than one-month-old and those older than one month who die of unknown causes. Those under one month old who die of an unknown cause are now said to die of SUID (Sudden Undiagnosed Infant Death); whereas, older children who die of unknown causes are classified as dying from SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).
The CDC notes that “SUID is not the same as … SIDS, but SIDS is instead a potential cause of SUID.”
Jennifer Kurtz, chief of neonatal medicine at Long Island Jewish Forest Hills, part of Northwell Health in New York, told The Epoch Times that the primary causes “of SUID are suffocation/strangulation.”
According to the CDC, 27 percent of SUID deaths were due to accidental suffocation in bed, and 32 percent were due to an “unknown cause.”
Thomas Hegyi, a co-author of the 15-year study and medical director of the SIDS Center of New Jersey, said in a statement: “SUID in the first month of life is rare. However, data suggest that within that first month, there are differences in risk patterns for SUID based on age at death.”
Hegyi noted that the “first month of life is especially crucial to study, as it is a time when mothers are in postpartum recovery, experiencing fatigue, establishing breastfeeding practices, and developing new household routines, which can influence SUID risk factors,” according to The Epoch Times.
Hegyi explained that mothers of infants who died during their first week of life were more likely to have been delivered by cesarean section.
Hegyi noted that such procedures invite “potential distraction risks such as postpartum fatigue, postpartum depression, or pain-relieving medication,” he said in a statement.
Hegyi noted that this is especially true of first-time mothers, saying:
“Especially with first-time mothers unfamiliar with signs of infant distress or who may be recovering from a Cesarean section, there can be an increased risk.”
The study also noted that “a greater proportion of women whose babies died during their first week of life were educated beyond high school and experienced adequate prenatal care.” Smoking during pregnancy was also found to be a significant risk factor for infants.
Though the cause of SIDS remains unknown, researchers note that a better understanding of the risk factors can decrease risk.
According to Dr. Kurtz, SUID risk factors can be mitigated by adhering to safe sleep guidelines. She writes: “Infants should be placed on their backs to sleep, in a crib, on a firm mattress, without any fluffy blankets, pillows, or crib bumpers.”
Kurtz added: “Families should not smoke in the home where an infant resides.”
For more information on preventing SIDS/SUIDS, please refer to the safety recommendations from Safe to Sleep.
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