Child Development and Public Health

I chose the topic of SIDS because it seems to be a hot topic and one that is still unresolved.  Since I work one on one with child care providers we try and educate and pass on any new information that comes out on the topic.  We also bring speakers in to speak about it.

I looked at SIDS (also called cot death or crib death) around the world and found that New Zealand had the highest incidence while Asia, the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland have fewer cases.  In the Netherlands in 1971, two pediatricians at a conference presented the benefits of prone sleeping positions for babies.  Mothers then switched from their traditional habit of putting babies to sleep on their backs and by 1986 the cot death rate (which had been very low) had tripled.  Yet it was the Netherlands that started the first 'back to sleep' campaign in 1989, and their Sudden Infant Death rate fell by 40 percent.

In New Zealand some research suggests that the reason for cot death is extremely toxic nerve gases that form a certain fungi that gets into the mattress.  Other researchers dispute this view, however, after they implimented matress wrapping where a thin plastic coating is wrapped around the matress, rates have fallen 48 percent.  In conclusion, it appears that there are many views out there about the causes but nothing definite.  I say if what other countries are doing is working to lower incidence then keep doing it.