Verified Document

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Term Paper

¶ … Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. The articles explore separate studies about the topic. The author of this work discusses various aspects of each article and their merit. There were two sources used to complete this paper. Each year in America thousands of parents walk into their infants room and discover that the child has died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. The tragedy shocks and baffles the medical community as it continues to search for answers not only to what causes the syndrome but also what parents can do to reduce the risk of it striking their child. Studies around the globe have been conducted to this end with mixed results.

The determination of factors that influence the existence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is vital to the ability to stop its occurrence.

Study one

The first study examined whether the temperament of an infant has a bearing on whether that child is more prone to developing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

For the study, "healthy term, healthy preterm, and preterm infants with a neonatal history of apnea underwent polysomnography at 2 to 3 months. Arousal was induced using air-jet stimulation of the nostrils in active (AS) and quiet sleep (QS). Temperament was assessed using the Early Infancy Temperament Questionnaire. Arousal thresholds were elevated in QS compared with AS in each group (p < .001), and preterm infants with a neonatal history of apnea were less arousable than healthy preterm infants (p < .05) (Adamson, 2002)."

Research already knows that the syndrome most often claims the lives of babies between one week and one-year-old. Studies have also shown that it happens more often to babies who were born preterm and to babies whose...

The most common age for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome to strike is two to four months of age. While maternal smoking, low birth weight and premature birth are all shown to be contributing risk factors to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, the actual final mechanism to its triggering is still a mystery. This study focused on determining whether or not the baby's actual temperament contributes to the inability to rouse himself or herself during sleep, which is the ultimate cause of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome according to research.
"The aim of this investigation was to determine whether temperament could be used as an indicator of arousability from sleep in infants in the peak age range of SIDS and in infants at increased risk of SIDS. We hypothesized that the "threshold" dimension of temperament would be the most predictive measure of arousal threshold during sleep, given that this dimension was specifically designed as a measure of stimulus intensity required to evoke a discernible infant response (Adamson, 2002). "

The study examined 47 infants that were chosen from maternity wards in Australia. They were separated into three groups based on histories. The groups consisted of babies who were: healthy term infants, healthy preterm infants, and preterm infants who had a history of sleep apnea associated with slow heart beats.

"All preterm infants had normal cranial ultrasound scans at discharge. Healthy preterm infants required less than 2 days of assisted ventilation, and their subsequent clinical course was uneventful. Preterm infants with a history of apnea were ventilated for 15 [+ or -] 4 days (mean [+ or -] SEM, range 0-45 days) and had apnea/bradycardias (apnea >15 sec with associated bradycardia

Sources used in this document:
REFERENCES

Temperament ratings do not predict arousability in normal infants and infants at increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome. (Original Articles).

Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics; 10/1/2002; Adamson, T. Michael

Cosleeping in young Korean children.

Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics; 6/1/2002; Hahn, Hong-Moo
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

SIDS Sudden Infant Death Syndrome:
Words: 915 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

78), or that particulate air pollutants might be a contributing factor in SIDS (Glinianaia, Svetlana V., Rankin, Judith, Bell, Ruth, Pless-Mulloui, Tanja, and Howel, Denise, 2004, p. 1365). However, data that would link either of these things as the specific cause of SIDS is still being researched, and remains inconclusive at this time. Much more study is needed to understand SIDS. Sleep apnea has been the subject of recent research

Infant That Is Under One-Year-Old
Words: 779 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

For example, when mothers smoke during pregnancy they not only put toxins in their own bodies, but into the bodies of their babies as well. In addition to these toxins, the maternal smoking often deprives the babies of the oxygen that it needs, and this can result in abnormalities that can lead to SIDS. Metabolic disorders are also a consideration for babies that die of SIDS, although this has

Infants Early to Solid Food:
Words: 629 Length: 2 Document Type: Article Critique

Jennifer Su, an Atlanta pediatrician who was not involved the study saying starting infants on solid foods before 4 months can lead to allergies and eczema. The study was more thorough in reporting benefits of prolonged breast feeding as a reduction in the risk of respiratory and ear infections, diarrhea, diabetes, obesity, and sudden infant death syndrome, diabetes, obesity, eczema, and celiac disease. In trying to determine why mother's introduce

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Nip in
Words: 4113 Length: 15 Document Type: Research Paper

Mainstream smoke is exhaled from a smoker. Some experts say that side-stream smoke can emit higher levels of toxins than mainstream smoke. In response to these new reports, the Environmental Protection Agency classified secondhand smoke as a carcinogen because of its harmful effects on the health of both adults and the children of smokers. In addition, a lot more about the harm of other substances in tobacco smoke remains

Preventing SIDS an Overview of the Evidence
Words: 691 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) The causes of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) still remain poorly understood. Although there has been a dramatic decrease in its incidence, it still remains a leading cause of infant death in babies older than 30 days and younger than a year (Carolan, 2015, p.1). SIDS occurs when a previously healthy infant goes to sleep and for no apparent reason dies before waking. One of the

Safe Sleep and Sleep Patterns for Children Under 18 Months
Words: 2311 Length: 5 Document Type: Research Paper

Infant Sleep Patterns People sleep nearly one third of their lives and infants sleep significantly more than adults (Franken, Kopp, Landolt, & Luthi, 2009). The function of sleep has hypothesized by different researchers; however, surprisingly there is no general consensus as to what the function and purpose of sleep actually is. It is known that sleep deprivation can have some serious consequences, especially in infants. The reason for this is that

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now