Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Analysis

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) has been an ongoing issue for childbearing families and health care providers for decades. In developed countries, SIDS is the most common cause of death in children between one and twelve months of age (Strehle et al., 2012). Since the Safe Sleep campaign was established in 1994, the incidence of SIDS has decreased by approximately 53% over a ten-year span (Chung-Park, 2012). Although the decrease in SIDS deaths has been significant, the number is still alarmingly high and the problem is an on going issue. It is crucial that caregivers of newborns are informed with evidence-based information to ensure full knowledge with safe sleeping position (Chung-Park, 2012). To prevent SIDS from occurring, it is important

After the Back to Sleep campaign started, it was found that over 98% of nurses in the training program intended to place infants in a back-only sleeping position (Price, Gardner, Hillman, Schenk, & Warren, 2008). Having nurses up to date on safety standards allows them to teach new families proper information they need to know for infant safety before being discharged from the hospital. All parents should ensure that any caregiver looking after their newborn knows that putting the baby down in the supine position to sleep is the safest for all children under one year of age (Meadows-Oliver, 2013). Many young and new caregivers are not able to receive proper information prior to their newborn being born so it is important to get in as much teaching as possible before they get go

Since the Safe Sleep for newborns campaign started the incidence of SIDS decreased significantly. To prevent any further infant deaths from SIDS, interventions should be implemented by all health care professionals involved with children that are one year of age and under. An important intervention that new parents can easily implement is to ensure the environment their infant is sleeping in is safe. Also, all parents should know that with having a newborn, the safest sleeping position would be to put them on their backs. Increasing maternal education in the prenatal and postnatal period can have positive effects on the newborns health and life. Lastly, another intervention that can help prevent SIDS is monitoring the baby’s temperature at all times since they cannot do this themselves. It is very important that nurses are knowledgeable about these evidence informed interventions because they are the ones to answer any questions the parents might have before being discharged from the hospital. Every child should be able to feel safe when going to bed and every caregiver should feel confident that their infant is safe when they are put down to