Millions of families in the U.S and around the world have been stricken with the sudden tragedy of S.I.D.S, sudden infant death syndrome. In average 7,000 babies die in the U.S each year of S.I.D.S, and there is no way to predict or prevent SIDS from occurring.
Sudden infant death syndrome is a syndrome that babies older than one month old to one year old can get. This syndrome is the sudden death of an infant without any cause. It cannot be predicted or prevented, but doctors and scientist are trying to find a way to predict the occurrence of sids so they can treat it before it happens. They are also trying to find a cure for it, but unfortunately sids is a very sudden syndrome and by the time many notice it is too late. Doctors and scientist still don’t have an explanation of why sids occur. Sids does not have any symptoms. Recent studies have shown that babies that have been healthy and happy have suffered from sids too. Sids is not from malnutrition, lack of care, or suffocation. Scientists still aren’t sure what causes it. Since no one knows what causes it there hasn’t been any treatment discovered, and by the time sids is evident the baby is already dead. “There appears to be no suffering, death occurs rapidly, and usually during sleep.” (Sids-network.org)






Statistics show that 7,000 babies die from this every year, and150, 000 deaths have been recorded from this time period alone. sids has been the leading killer of infants under the age of one year old in the U.S for a long time. It is not a recent discovery; sids has been mentioned thousands of years ago. People of ancient times thought that the gods were mad with them so they took there child away from them and that is how they explained the sudden death of their child. Sids is only diagnosed when a very thorough autopsy has been done and there is no other cause or reason for death.




There are many misconceptions about sids. For instance some people believe that sids is contagious, and it is NOT. sids also does not cause pain or are they caused by suffocation, vomiting, choking, or miss treatment. Doctors still aren’t sure what it is caused by. Sids occur in all ethnic groups, another common misconception is that sids only occur in a certain race. Although studies have shown that African-American and native-American babies have a higher rate of death from sids.also some believe that if a mother has had a child die from sids before that she is more likely to have her other children die from sids too, this statement is not based on fact it is merely based upon other opinions and beliefs.

There are many doctors and physicians out there that have put there own perspectives on sids, some may be correct and many are false and or opinions. When getting advice on preventing sids you need to take into consideration that this syndrome does not have a specific cure or preventative action. Some doctors may tell you to not smoke around your infant to keep from getting sids, but it has not been determined that smoking around newborns causes sids. So what they tell you is just based off of there personal views. The advice of many doctors and scientists suggest you learn as much as possible about this syndrome and form your views, and take from others only if it is a biased view. Many websites give there own opinions and false precautions, there is no guarantee that your child will not suffer from sids.






Recent studies have shown a link between the serotonin levels in the brain and this syndrome .dr. David mokler thinks that the less serotonin an infant has in his brain the more likely the child will come down with sids. He says that it causes the baby to quiet breathing because the small amount of serotonin in the brain. Scientist are not sure but they are still researching this idea. He also suggests that if you place a baby on its back it is less likely to get sids. And Kaiser Permanganate did experiments determining if it mattered if the room was well ventilated in the statistics of contracting sids. And they came back saying that if you put a fan in the baby’s room that it is less likely to get sids.




Of course all of these examples are just experiments and whether you put a fan in the room or not is not a guarantee that the baby will not die from sids. Scientists are completing many experiments trying to find a way to prevent and cure this syndrome and there are many different notions about what each believe. Scientists are trying to boost public awareness, and encouraging people to fund their research projects. So that they can find a diagnosis and a fix for sids. From the rising amount of sids cases has come the great want for more research to be done, and the rise in sids support groups.






All in all it has yet to be determined that sids can be prevented or cured. Sids is a random disease as far as we know and nothing you did could have stopped this syndrome from occurring. In the future it may be determined that many things cause it, but for now there is little (unbiased) to know about this condition. So until scientist find a reason for sids to happen, sudden infant death syndrome will stay a random occurrence
among infants younger than a year old.