SIDS or not ... the trauma of a baby dying during sleep time never goes away
There are no comments for this page [ Add Comment ]Monday, January 14, 2008
By Loretta Park
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
lpark@standard.net
Listen to the couple share their experience.
Cause of death usually listed as SIDS, suffocation or unknown
SUNSET -- For almost six months the young Sunset couple did not know how their 3-month-old daughter died.
Ri-Ann and Jacob Sevy worried she may have died because they let her sleep in an infant sleeper bed on one side of their king-size bed. They wondered if it was because she was six weeks premature. They blamed themselves for not waking up when she stopped breathing.
The couple still had questions after reading the autopsy report from the state medical examiner's office. It listed "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome" as the cause of death.
It was not a tragic accident, like police had said.
The police had reported Tru Jake-Ann Sevy died while sleeping in a bed with her parents in their Layton home.
"She was in a bed, but an infant bed that was in our bed," Ri-Ann Sevy said. "She never slept between us."
The sleeper, which the Sevys have kept, has sides on it so if placed in a bed next to parents, the adults are unable to roll on the child.
Still, the small brunette died in her sleep Feb. 22, 2006.
The autopsy report, which was quite long, listed no problems with any of Tru's organs, Jacob Sevy said. Everything was fine.
"She just quit breathing," Ri-Ann Sevy said.
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The SIDS rate in Utah and nationally has decreased since the campaign began to have infants sleep on their backs, officials said.
But infants still die unexpectedly and investigators, usually law enforcement officers, are called to the scene.
Most of Utah's investigators for the medical examiner's office follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendations, said Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Todd C. Grey.
Investigators are supposed to look at the entire sleeping environment when an infant is found dead -- not the just the position in which the baby is found, but also where the baby is sleeping, what type of blankets and quilts are used, if adults were in the bed and how many pillows are on the bed.
As for providing training for investigators, "That would be lovely if we could do that, but we have no money for training," Grey said. "We give them the forms, but we may not get 100 percent compliance."
According to a recent report by Scripps Howard News Service, most infants who die suddenly are not dying because of SIDS. The report found infants are dying because they are accidentally smothered by adults or children who sleep with them or because they are placed on overstuffed sofas or heavily blanketed adult beds.
The report reviewed 20,195 infant deaths across the country from Jan. 1, 2000, to Dec. 31, 2004. According to that report, for 33 percent of all babies who died unexpectedly in Davis County, the cause was suffocation, while 50 percent died because of SIDS, and 17 percent died of unknown causes.
In Weber County, 10 percent died of suffocation, 30 percent of SIDS and 60 percent for unknown reasons.
Grey, however, said the data "is garbage" because it all depends on what the medical examiner puts on the death certificate. The medical examiner can only go by evidence investigators gather and what the autopsy shows.
Kevin Condra, spokesman for the state's Violence & Injury Prevention Program, said from 2004 to 2006 fewer than five babies total unexpectedly died in Box Elder, Davis, Morgan and Weber counties. That number includes deaths listed as suffocation, asphyxiation and SIDS.
"That's a pretty small number," Condra said.
Even though it's a small number, the American Pediatrics Association still recommends babies not sleep with parents, said Dr. Kathie Coopersmith, an Ogden pediatrician.
"SIDS is rare, and more rare since we've put babies on their back," Coopersmith said.
The Scripps Howard report said those investigating an infant's death sometimes don't want to list suffocation because a parent rolled on top of a child.
Coopersmith also believes a number of suffocation or asphyxiation deaths across the country are not listed because "the parents are going to have enough guilt without that being brought to light that happened."
She said she is unaware of any baby who has died while sleeping with their parents. Still, she does recommend to parents that they do not sleep with their infants. She knows some do not listen, especially breast-feeding mothers.
"I can tell you there are a lot of parents whose babies sleep with them," Coopersmith said.
If parents want the infant close to them, they should bring a bassinet or crib into the bedroom, said Brienne Schilling with the Family Support Center in Ogden.
If parents cannot afford a crib, there are agencies that can help, Schilling said.
"My goal is not to scare parents, but to educate them," Schilling said.
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The Sevy's pain did not ease even after knowing they did nothing wrong, but it did change the way they care for their second daughter, now 7 months old.
"I wanted to get pregnant right after, but I'm glad I didn't," Ri-Ann Sevy said. "I would have done it for the wrong reasons."
Little red-headed Alexis Sevy has never slept in her parents' bed, nor has she slept in the infant sleeper bed.
"Don't let your children sleep in your bed at all," Jacob Sevy said.
"I would never recommend getting one of those little beds, anything that puts them in your bed, I wouldn't recommend it," Ri-Ann Sevy said.
Alexis spent the first three months of her life in a bassinet, close to her parents. Now she has a crib in her own room decorated with whimsical fairies.
"We're way more cautious with her," Ri-Ann Sevy said.
"She'll be asleep in her car seat in the back seat and we'll check to make sure she's breathing while we're driving," Jacob Sevy said.
The Sevys also hook their daughter to an apnea monitor that lets them know if Alexis is experiencing breathing problems. So far, all is good, they said, and it's worth the $40 a month they pay "for peace of mind." They plan to use the machine until Alexis is 2 years old.
Jacob Sevy hopes some day the medical field will discover more concrete reasons for unexpected deaths of infants. He said he hopes coroners and those who investigate deaths of babies will follow the methods of investigation recommended by the CDC.
"It leaves you wondering what happened," Jacob Sevy said as he held Alexis on his lap.
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