Suddenly Dying Babies

It could happen in their sleep. Don't fall asleep cause Freddy will get you. After Friday the 13th there was A Nightmare on Elm Street. Any first time parent doesn't have to be familiar with the films to worry when their child is sleeping if they are really sleeping or are in jeopardy. A quiet sleeping infant can cause anxiety in any and probably every new parent. There is much to fear if you wish to live in fear. Fear for the young is understandable and concern commendable. Unreasonable fear is just unreasonable and parents luck or blessed enough to suffer pregnancy twice learn, eventually that lesson.

NBC News, WUSA the local CBS affiliate and other local stations featured the current research on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) a problem that doesn't really affect the newborns in the nation.  The numbers one, two, three and four causes of death for newborns in the US are (according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention):

1. Unintentional accidents, 27.8%, 
2. Heart disease, 8.4%, 
3. Homicide 8.1%,  
4. Septicemia 6.5%; 

From 2006, these are "pre-flu" death numbers. These are the more substantial numbers of dead babies, unless your child is the child not reflected in the group and has succumb to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

In the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) autopsy study on forty-one (41) dying infants offers a possible answer to what makes sleeping infants die: "Brainstem Serotonergic Deficiency." Is it the final answer - we don't think so. But it is an answer when there was no clear answer prior and possible the solution to a prevailing new parent fear.

The 10 leading causes of infant mortality for 2007,  for the US according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), were:

1. Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities
   
2. Disorders related to short gestation and low birth weight, not elsewhere classified
   
3. Sudden infant death syndrome
   
4. Newborn affected by maternal complications of pregnancy
   
5. Accidents (unintentional injuries)
   
6. Newborn affected by complications of placenta, cord and membranes
   
7. Bacterial sepsis of newborn
   
8. Respiratory distress of newborn
   
9. Neonatal hemorrhage
   
10. Diseases of the circulatory system
The only difference between the leading causes for 2006 and those for 2007 is that Bacterial sepsis of newborn and Respiratory distress of newborn exchanged rank. (CDC p6)

So goes the nation but the national numbers are not substantially reflected in our region. The numbers don't reflect SIDS deaths in numbers equaling alarm status. (CDC Table 9)

And you thought we only wrote about the aged and aging! The only reason this story was worth our attention is because such stories divert attention from the more serious and deadly causes of death of all ages. If the news was a magic show this would be a simple case of misdirection. We think it's not news worthy unless of course you're the parent suffering the loss. Our question is why in this environment is their suffering superior to all others?