FACTS ABOUT SIDS

• Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is the sudden and unexplained and unexpected death of an infant under one year of age.
  
  
• It is the major cause of death in babies from 1 month to 1 year of age.
  
  
• Most SIDS deaths occur when a baby is between 2 and 4 months old. A baby dies quickly, usually while the baby is asleep.
  
  
• It is unpredictable and currently unpreventable.
  
  
• It is not contagious, and it is not caused by immunization or by child abuse.
  
  
• This is every parents nightmare. Yet, it is a reality for the parents of over 3,000 babies per year in the United States alone.
  
  
• After 30 years of research, scientists still have not found a cause for SIDS. Although there are factors that may reduce the risk of SIDS, there is no way to predict or prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
  
  
• A SIDS baby cannot be revived by any means.
  

• The unexpected death of an apparently healthy baby.
  
  
• Unpredictable and currently unpreventable.
  
  
• A death that occurs quickly, usually while the baby is sleeping.
  
  
• Determined only after a complete autopsy, and examination of the death scene, and a review by a doctor or other health care professional of the baby's case history.
  
  
• A diagnosis requiring the exclusion of other causes of death.
  

• SIDS is NOT...Predictable or preventable even by a physician. At this time the first symptom of SIDS is death.
  
  
• SIDS is NOT...Caused by suffocation, aspiration, choking or a minor illness.
  
  
• SIDS is NOT...The result of anything anyone did or did not do.
  
  
• SIDS is NOT...Contagious or Inherited.
  
  
• SIDS is NOT...Sleep Apnea.
  
  
• SIDS is NOT...Child Abuse.
  
  
• SIDS is NOT... The cause of every unexpected infant death.
  
  
• There is no such thing as a "SIDS Episode"...Or a baby "almost" dying of SIDS.