Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is one of the leading causes for Infant deaths. It's is something that happens suddenly and shows no sign of pain or discomfort for the baby. Working in a child care center I have found myself being very various about the way I lay babies to sleep. In my center we ensure that every teacher is well trained on the importance of SIDS prevention and the safety of our little ones. We have to ensure that infants are laid to sleep on their backs when we put them in cribs. If they can roll over then they will do so on their own. We also have to ensure that all cribs are free of toys, stuffed animals and or bumbers. We also have to ensure that babies do not fall asleep in bouncing seats, swings, or car seats. We also have to ensure that pillows are not used, and blankets are properly tucked on three sides and cross at the breast line of the child. This is truly a hard task! But no one wants to be responsible for causing the death of an Infant, especially knowing all of the proper precautions that one can take.
Learning more about SIDS makes me want to ensure even more that my staff and I are always making the best decisions for the children. Since we have the highest SIDS rate in the Unites States, I feel the strong responsibility to make sure that no child on my watch is added to this continuously rising rate. I feel the strong responsibility to educate as many parents and friends as I possibly can.
Hi Monique,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you chose to write about Sudden Infant Death syndrome. It's so common nowadays and it's such a sad thing to see happen. After researching and learning more about this, I'm sure it makes you very weary as to how you place your students down for a nap at your job. After having my daughter I was always very careful as to how I placed her down to sleep, making sure there were no blankets that she could suffocate on or stuffed animals to prevent her from breathing if she got into a wrong position. I was very careful and I was the same way with my 4 and 5 year old students at the preschool I worked at. (Even though they weren't infants, I was always cautious!) I think it's great that at your daycare center the teachers are trained on the importance of SIDS. I have worked at many daycare's/preschools and always had to have training, etc and never once was SIDS ever mentioned. I think it should be required for every daycare/preschool especially if they have infants that attend there. What will you do to educate your family and friends on SIDS?
Monique,
ReplyDeleteYou read about SIDS, you hear about other stories of SIDS, but SIDS did not become a reality to me until one of my clients in an early intervention program lost the baby I was servicing to SIDS. I was there at the home when the child fell asleep after completing our session. I was there conversing with the mom about the infant's progress. The mother went to check on the baby and realized the baby was not breathing. This was in a matter of minutes. SIDS had come in like a theif and taken the baby's life. I mean what could we have done. This is something that comes across my mind everyday. Monique, thanks for preventive methods.