Amanda Saucedo was a great mother who followed all the tips she read on parenting blogs until she brought her newborn baby to co-sleep with her in her bed.
She recounts that she was a single mom of two and took all the sleeping breaks that she could get. Since the blogs said it was safe for the baby to sleep on the bed if precaution is taken, she used only one pillow and a single blanket, with only the mother on the bed. Her method successfully raised her then 3-year-old son, Trae, and she was now implementing it on Ben.
Unfortunately, on the morning that Ben was supposed to turn 30 days old, Amanda woke up to find him dead. She struggles to point to his exact cause of death, suspecting that she might have been exhaling into his face denying him much-needed oxygen or the fact that they were sleeping on a soft mattress that couldn’t have been as firm as a crib.
SIDS
Sudden Unexpected Infant Death Syndrome(SUIDS), a subsidiary of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome(SIDS), is the leading cause of death in infants between ages one month and one year. Many factors can cause a SUID death: infection, choking, injury, airway blockage, or cardiac/metabolic dysfunction.
American Academy of Pediatrics task force on SIDS’ chair, Dr. Rachel Moon, observes that SUID deaths continue occurring and often happen to well-meaning parents. She adds that sleep-related infant deaths are stuck at the same rate since 1998 in the US. She adds that these rates are much higher than in other developed countries and some undeveloped countries.
History of SIDS
SIDS was first discovered in 1969, and by the 90s, scientists had discovered that sleeping on its back on a crib was a baby’s safest bet. In 1994, a popular public awareness campaign dubbed ‘back to sleep’ urged parents to put babies to sleep on their backs as opposed to on their tummies. Another feature of the campaign was championing for avoidance in soft blankets and bedding in cribs. Parents were also advised against toys and decorations on the crib.
