Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Preventing SIDS?

Colin,

There are so many theories about SIDS and ways to "prevent" it, or "reduce the risk" that is is almost mind numbing to think about it. The one thing that seems consistent in just about everything I read is the first bullet in any list after telling parents how to "prevent" SIDS is that "SIDS is not preventable or predictable." Ok, I may not be the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but I have some smarts about me. If something is not preventable or predictable, how in the world can any of the so called preventative measures make a difference? It does make one wonder if anyone really knows what in the world they are talking about.

I can buy the "reduce the risk"...just barely, but I can if you subscribe to certain theories, but it seems that the whole list of this risk reduction is an amalgamation of all the theories rolled into one. So, I guess what I am saying is that I could have practiced every one of the risk reduction points or not and it would not really have mattered since you can not prevent the unpreventable. This is truly the real maddening part of you dying. I am being told that if I did anywhere between 7 and 23 things (depends on the lists you read) to "prevent" SIDS, you probably would have died anyway...nothing like another kick in the stomach to make the pain go away.

Hopefully, in my lifetime, the real cause(s) of and ways to prevent SIDS will be found and all the "theorists" out there can stop scaring the hell out of parents because if they make even the slightest misstep, their baby might die of SIDS as well. Until that day, I will keep reading and learning more and more to help me understand better, hopefully helping others in the process.

I love you!
Daddy

1 comment:

  1. I think every day: what could we have done differently? I'll never know if we could have prevented the "unpreventable" because SIDS is nothing if not mixed messages. It's not your fault, it is your fault...every day as a person, a parent, we could make different choices, some better than others but we cannot deny that babies die for reasons unknown. I guess it doesn't change the
    fact that they are gone, leaving their own legacy
    behind. One day, I hope we can make sense of the
    senseless for ourselves and eachother.

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