Losing your baby to SIDS — sudden infant death syndrome — is devastating for a parent. Many times, SIDS deaths can’t be explained, leaving bereaved parents with more questions than answers. And while there are ways to lessen the probability of your baby dying from SIDS, some parents still don’t follow the rules, thinking nothing bad could possibly happen to their baby. But it can, and too frequently does.
A new study shows that SIDS deaths actually rose between 2020 and 2022. According to researchers, there are multiple reasons for the rise. But despite this, infant mortality is down overall.
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The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, and showed that SIDS deaths rose 12% between 2020 and 2022. Associate professor of pediatrics with Children’s Hospital of Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University, and author of the study, Elizabeth Wolf, MD, MPH, spoke with The New York Times about the study, calling the findings “pretty alarming.”
“The death of an infant from SIDS or [SUID, sudden unexpected infant death] is unbelievably horrific. And we as a public health community need to do everything we can to try and reduce the risk factors as much as possible,” Wolf said.
Even though SIDS deaths rose, the study notes that overall, infant mortality rates are down by 24%, causing experts to wonder about the spike in SIDS.
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One possible reason is COVID-19; the rise in numbers coincides with the worst of the pandemic, when babies couldn’t be vaccinated against the virus. Dr. Michael Goodstein, director of newborn services for WellSpan Health and a member of an American Academy of Pediatrics task force on SUID also spoke for the NYT article saying, “It’s my prayer that this is just a blip that’s really tightly tied to the pandemic, and that it’ll come back down.”
According to the study, SIDS deaths are still higher among Black, Native American, and Pacific Islander babies. The risk for SIDS is 10 times higher for Black babies than it is for white or Asian babies.
For Black babies, maternal complications during pregnancy and low birth weight are factors, according to KFF, an independent source for health policy information. Meanwhile, KFF also reported that Native American babies are more likely to die from SIDS because their mothers were “almost three times more likely to receive late or no prenatal care than non-Hispanic white mothers.” And that Hawaiian/Pacific Islander mothers were “4.6 times more likely to receive late or no prenatal care as compared to non-Hispanic white mothers.”
Wolf also holds social media accountable for the rise in SIDS deaths. “In social media posts, infants can be seen in unsafe sleep positions, for example on their stomach instead of on their back, and in unsafe sleep environments such as adult beds, couches and baby swings,” she said in a statement.
A 2021 analysis of Instagram images showed that less than 8% displayed safe sleep practices set out by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
“An infant dying from SUID is a horrific tragedy and causes incomprehensible trauma to the family,” Wolf said in the statement. “Although not all SUID is preventable, there are some ways to reduce an infant’s risk.”
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