| Home
> Baby Mine News Center
> Parents whose babies died from SIDS deserve support
Parents whose babies died from SIDS deserve support
Click here to
see our selection of Baby and Toddler products.
By Tara Ahrens
I was shocked to read the article, “Allen records rash of
SIDS: Sleeping arrangements, risk factors cited in 6 deaths over
2-month span” (March 18) on the increase of SIDS in Allen
County. This article pinpointed things the parents did “wrong”
that “caused” their otherwise healthy child to die from
SIDS.
The article cited risk factors that may be to blame for babies’
unexplainable deaths. The article does not mention prenatal prevention,
which both the SIDS Center of Indiana and the American SIDS Institute’s
Web sites address.
Although the typical advice of “do not smoke around baby”
and “put baby on back to sleep” was offered, there was
no advice or compassion shown to the families who lost their precious
babies. Dr. William Lewis admitted in the article that “You
could do everything right and it could still happen.”
As the mother of a beautiful, perfect baby boy who died from SIDS,
I wonder whether anyone could guarantee that the “more than
half” of babies exposed to cigarette smoke would have lived
had they not been exposed? Can anyone tell the mother who did not
have air conditioning in the hot summer months that her baby would
have lived if she lived in a $300,000 house and drove a BMW?
My son died for no reason; meaning, he was never exposed to smoke,
was sleeping on his back in a climate-controlled car, was full-term
and average birth weight. I took prenatal vitamins, got regular
exercise and went to every doctor’s appointment religiously
while pregnant with him. I studied SIDS and was very informed and
prepared on how to “prevent” it when he was born. I
would love to know what anyone would tell me I did to cause my son
to die. Even the coroner could not find anything wrong with my baby
in the autopsy.
People who have lost a child have endured the most awful and life-altering
devastation a human can experience. Parents of SIDS babies, in particular,
will suffer a life of grief, guilt, self-blaming and self-loathing,
and they will never be the same. We will never feel that subsequent
babies are “safe,” “healthy” or “just
sleeping.” The last thing these families need is to see an
article, just months after they buried their little bundle, listing
the things they “should have done to prevent” SIDS,
especially without the guarantee that if they had altered the risk
factor, they would still be snuggling their sweet babies.
When I read an article that says the number of SIDS deaths has
increased, my heart breaks. It also tells me that no one in the
entire world has figured out what causes it and how to stop it completely.
Let’s focus on finding what causes this syndrome. Let’s
focus on pre- as well as post-natal education. Let’s focus
on supporting and loving people who have suffered this loss. Let’s
offer compassion for victims while we renew our efforts for prevention.
If anyone would like more information or support, I would suggest
checking out the American SIDS Institute at . If you are one of
the people who has loved and lost a baby to SIDS, I offer support
and compassion.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/editorial/14251076.htm
|
