I recently started a thread regarding sleep apnea and one of the respondents, Oicu812 posted this:
which in turn got me wondering: is there any plausible link between sleep apnea/hypopnea and S.I.D.S.? It would seem to be a perfect explanation, really, but I’ve never heard mention of it WRT the death of a child.
Wow, thanks KG. I wonder if I’ve just missed this information before or if it really has been ignored in cases I’ve heard about.
Damn.
I am a mom, and I always thought that SIDS was related to babies suffocating (either in bedding or by rebreathing carbon dioxide) while sleeping on their tummies.
Just what I need to start thinking about during this pregnancy…
Actually, yes. i watched a show a few days ago where a woman’s five kids died apparently because of SIDS and their pediatrician said that they all had sleep apnea, and had the proof of it. It looked like for a while that we were going to finally find out what caused SIDS, when the mother confessed that she killed all of her children.
** WAIT! BACK TO SLEEP IS A VALID, GOOD PRACTICE!**
(for reasons other than “EJsGirl Damn”'s above theory)
Working on the “inside” with SIDS doctors since the start, you all SHOULD be aware that the BACK TO SLEEP campaign HAS HAD promising results AND IS HIGHLY ENCOURAGED! While not a magic cure-all, many hospitals are teaching new parents this as a precautionary measure.
The apnea link to SIDS is questionable as the US research data was tainted by bias, and doctors OUTSIDE the US were unable to reproduce the same results! Be advised that apnea DOES NOT equate to SIDS, for certain!
Pediatrics Magazine, where the apnea-SIDS theory was hastily published in 1974, printed a retraction to this landmark article - decades later - after much debate and court-like hearings at NIH - dragging the mess into the 1990’s! In short, SIDS research was set back by 30 years!
If you wish to know the whole, long story, read “The Death of Innocents” by Richard Firstman & Jamie Talan
I have first-hand knowledge having been involved in SIDS research from its early days.
SIDS and apnea got tied togther from the start, and the studies have been kicked round and round. The link IS NOT clear-cut, and much data in the US has been highly questioned as GOOD, VIABLE data collected by employing true scientific method. Doctors outside the US have been unable to reproduce similar results in their sleep labs, and this opened to door to a debate lasting over 30 years.
In short, apnea is not a sure-fire pathway to SIDS. For more information, I encourage you to take the time to read “The Death of Innocents” by Richard Firstman and Jamie Talan. The whole ball of wax will astound you and leave you flabbergasted! …and I know many of the characters first-hand, so the truth floored me!!!Is it apnea, SIDS, and/or murder-cover up?
Most important, please follow the “BACK TO SLEEP” advice!
Thank you, Jinx, for the information. That was what I was interested in, really. It’s not a heavy, serious adventure for me, as I have no children and never plan to (at 28, I think I can hold off), but I was interested in an academic manner. Thank you again.
“Thinksnow”, I just wanted to set the record straight BEFORE we undo what little prgress remains in the effort to combat SIDS!
Whew! 