SIDS

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) adalah satu fenomena di mana bayi meninggal secara mengejut. Walaupun banyak kajian dah dilakukan bagi mengenalpasti punca utama kejadian ni, but until now the cause of SIDS remains a mystery...

Apa yang perlu kita tahu dan faham ialah SIDS is not any 1 illness or disease. Rather, it's the diagnosis that's given when a child under a year old dies suddenly and an exact cause can't be found after a complete medical and legal investigation(including an autopsy) has be done. Roughly babies between 2 and 4months old are most at risk, and 90% of SIDS cases are in babies under the age of 6months, means after our baby's first birthday, his/her likelihood of succumbing to SIDS drops dramatically. SIDS is also known as crib death because it happens most often during sleep, usually between the hours of 10 pm. and 10 am.

Walaupun setelah lebih 3dekad kajian terhadap punca SIDS dilakukan, there still no definitive answer for that. Banyak andaian telah dibuat sebagai platform untuk mencari jalan penyelesaian atau kaedah terbaik untuk menangani SIDS ini, antara andaian tersebut ialah pada possibility of electrical problems with the heart, respiratory distress, overheating, serotonin imbalance, bacterial infections, failure to rouse, smoking environment many more... Till now, experts are continuing to study the brain, the autonomic nervous system, infant care and sleep environments, infection, immunity and genetics in search of answers...

Even though there's no sure way to prevent SIDS, we can take steps to reduce the risk of it happening. Here are the most important points:

- Do check the baby constantly when he/she is sleeping...
- Put the baby down to sleep on his/her back but once he/she is able to roll over while sleeping, it's ok to sleep on his/her stomach...
- Use a firm crib mattress (softer mattresses may allow the baby to sink in and may make it more difficult to breathe)
- Don't overheat the baby with too much clothing or an overly warm room. Kalau risau baby sejuk, bagi dia pakai blanket sleeper...
- Keep pillows, fluffy blankets, comforters and other soft objects out of baby's crib...
- Never allow people to smoke around baby...