Very occasionally an apparently healthy baby, usually less than a year old, dies in his sleep. Cot, Crib or SIDS deaths, as they are called, are by definition, deaths that could not have been foreseen (even by a doctor) and never explained (even at post-mortem). In fact when no other cause is found, sudden death in infants is attributed to SIDS. The nastiest part is that it can happen even when the caretaker does everything perfectly. Imagine the plight of people who put their babies to sleep, only to return after a while to find that he/she has slept forever. Horrendous! Gruesome! Horrible! Haunting!

Without knowing the exact causes of SIDS deaths, medical professionals cannot know – and tell parents – exactly how to prevent them. In fact exactitude may never be possible because SIDS death probably result from complex combinations and interactions of circumstances rather than from simple single causes. The medical profession is now mapping those complexities and very successfully over the recent period SIDS rates have fallen very sharply.

While doctors still have no adequate medical explanations for SIDS deaths, the most common causes include stress in a normal baby, prematurity and low birth weight, smoking, drinking or drug usage by mothers during pregnancy and young motherhood(<20 years). Studies also reveal that more boys than girls fall victim to SIDS.

Recent research has revealed that toddlers who succumb to SIDS may have an abnormality in the ‘arcuate nucleus’, a part of the brain that controls the baby’s breathing.

Several very strong risk factors for cot deaths are so widely agreed by experts in different countries that parents everywhere are advised to take action to avoid them. These risk factors aren’t the “causes” of SIDS, so avoiding them doesn’t mean that you can be certain of protecting your baby. Nevertheless, you will enormously reduce the already minute chances of SIDS striking your family.

There is no guaranteed way to prevent SIDS, but you can help your baby to sleep safely by following some guidelines:
•Babies should be put down to sleep lying on their backs and not on their bellies.
•Babies’ heads must not be covered while they are asleep.
•Babies must not get too hot while they are asleep.
•Babies should not be exposed to smoke either before or after birth.
•Babies' bedding should be selected carefully. It should be firm with a fitted sheet and devoid of any surpluses.
•Babies should be made to sleep in a crib / bassinet not in adult beds lest they suffocate.
•Always keep a watchful eye on your baby.
•Babies’ risk of SIDS can be reduced by making it suck on a pacifier at naptime.
•Keep the babies room temperature moderate.
•Breastfeed the baby.

SIDS is not new. In fact it has a mention in the Old Testament (Kings 3:19) also. It is not contagious nor does it cause any pain or suffering to the infant. But ask families who have experienced a SIDS death. It is overwhelming. Parents are overcome by remorse as well as anguish. But SIDS can occur to any baby no matter how much loved or protected. In spite of knowing so much about SIDS, it still remains a mystery to unravel.