SIDS Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

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SIDS Education - Safe Sleep Hospital & Parent/Caregiver Manuals  

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Safe Sleep Manual

TOOL KIT-Infant Safe Sleep

 

Introduction

Model Hospital Policy Manual Toolkit- Infant Safe Sleep (Download)
 "Model Hospital Policy Manual & Tool Kit" was developed by SIDS Of Pennsylvania and the Allegheny County Perinatal Periods of Risk (PPOR) Team to provide written guidance for hospitals and other health care facilities about implementing and modeling infant safe sleep protocols within their facility.
Infant Safe Sleep Education and the Home Visitor (Download)
"A Guide for Home Visitors" manual was developed by SIDS Of Pennsylvania and the Allegheny County Perinatal Periods of Risk (PPOR) Team.  Home visitors are encouraged to listen to the parent/caregiver's understanding regarding infant safe sleep and provide guidance in a sensitive and culturally appropriate manner.  This toolkit was developed to help guide home visitors, provide information about infant save-sleep in a sensitive and culturally appropriate way.

 

Nationally and locally, parents/caregivers have conveyed a number of reasons for not adhering to the infant safe sleep guidelines recommended by American Academy of Pediatricians, SIDS of Pennsylvania, and the Allegheny County Health Department Perinatal Periods of Risk Team.

 

Reasons for not following infant safe sleep guidelines include:

►Comfort

►Safety

►Prior experience with other children

►Advice from close family members (particularly female)

►Convenience

►Lack of space for a crib

►Lack of money to secure a crib

►Lack of information or knowledge

►Negative, non-empathetic or condescending attitude of health professional

►Information presented in a non-competent culturally inappropriate manner.

 

Health professionals are encouraged to listen to the parent/caregiver’s understanding regarding infant safe sleep and provide guidance in a sensitive and culturally appropriate manner. The following toolkit was developed to help guide nurses or other health care professionals to provide information about infant safe sleep in a sensitive and culturally appropriate way.

 

SIDS IS NOT: 

  • Caused by vomiting and choking, or minor illnesses such as colds or infections.

  • Caused by diptheria, pertussis, tetanus (DTP) vaccines, or other immunizations.

  • Contagious.

  • Hereditary.

  • Child abuse.

  • The cause of every unexpected infant death.

SIDS IS:

  • The major cause of death in infants from 1 month to 1 year of age, with most deaths occurring between 2 and 4 months.

  • Sudden and silent—the victim was seemingly healthy.

  • Currently, unpredictable and unpreventable.

  • A death that occurs quickly, with no signs of suffering, and is usually associated with sleep.

  • A syndrome the first symptom of which is death.

  • Determined only after an autopsy, an examination of the death scene, and a review of the case history.

  • A post-mortem diagnosis established by exclusion.

  • A recognized medical disorder listed in the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision (ICD-9).

  • An infant death that leaves unanswered questions and, thus, causes intense grief for parents and families.

 

Knowing that an apparently healthy baby can die of SIDS is frightening for parents.  To help ensure that their child is born healthy, parents should take good physical care of themselves.  Researchers now know that the mother’s health and behavior during her pregnancy and the baby’s health before birth seem to influence the occurrence of SIDS, but these variables are not reliable in predicting how, when, why or if SIDS will occur.  Maternal risk factors include cigarette smoking during pregnancy; maternal age less than 20 years; poor prenatal care; low weight gain; anemia; use of illegal drugs; and history of sexually transmitted disease or urinary tract infection.  These factors, which often may be subtle and undetected, suggest that SIDS is somehow associated with a harmful prenatal environment.

 

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