The start of the Safe to Sleep Campaign in 1994 was considered one of the revolutionary steps in stopping the cases of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
The campaign was started to educate parents to keep their babies on their backs and keep all the pillows, blankets, stuffed toys, and other products that have the potential to suffocate babies away from the cribs.
According to the report published in the Washington Post, about 3,400 babies under 1 die every year unexpectedly and suddenly. In most cases, parents find their kids unresponsive in their cribs. Also, as the autopsy is not standardized, the deaths are not always declared as SIDS.
Many health experts say it’s important to spread safe sleep information, especially to first-time parents.
To battle this fatal syndrome, it’s crucial to identify the cause of death. In most cases, the cause of death is strangulation and suffocation. It has been found that in many cases, the babies’ heads get wedged between the mattress and the side of the crib. But there are other cases where the cause is unknown.
The US forensic medical community refers to these deaths as undetermined and unknown. On the contrary, most clinical researchers still prefer the term SIDS for the death of infants.
According to experts, such practices of not including deaths under SIDS don’t give an accurate picture of the study. Even federal agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses graphics that include SIDS and unknown causes.
Many health experts believe that it is high time to find new and better ways to emphasize safe sleeping advice to parents. Parents could be guided and educated about the safe sleeping practices at hospitals, and doctors must inform patients about it, says a Washington Post report.
According to the American SIDS Institute, it is advised that keeping the crib always in the parents’ room reduces the risk, and people must practice this.
