Child development and public health

The topic that I chose to research and write about is SIDS. This topic is very important to me because everyone needs to be educated on SIDS. As a caregiver at a child development center everyone is educated and trained on SIDS. We take classes once a year so that we are updated on the newest information related to SIDS. Parents should also be aware of SIDS and know the appropriate and inappropriate ways to lay their baby down and other ways that SIDS can be prevented. I chose to research New Zealand and find information on the topic in this country. New Zealand believes that SIDS occurs from toxic gases that can be released from a baby’s mattress. A scientist in New Zealand says chemical compounds containing phosphorus, arsenic and antimony have been added to mattresses as fire retardants and for other purposes. A fungus that commonly grows in bedding can interact with these chemicals to create poisonous gases. These heavier-than-air gases are concentrated in a thin layer on the baby's mattress or are diffused away and dissipated into the surrounding atmosphere. If a baby breathes or absorbs a lethal dose of the gases, the central nervous system shuts down, stopping breathing and then heart function. These gases can fatally poison a baby, without waking the sleeping baby and without any struggle by the baby. There solution to solving the problem is wrapping mattresses in a gas-impermeable cover made from high-grade polyethylene and ensuring that bedding used on top of a wrapped mattress does not contain any phosphorus, arsenic or antimony. During the 11 years that New Zealand has been campaigning this they have not had any SIDS death reported from babies who have slept on the covered mattresses. I do not think that the information that I have learned with impact my future work. The USA believe that SIDS is caused from other factors so that is what I am going to stick to.

http://www.healthychild.com/toxic-sleep/has-the-cause-of-crib-death-sids-been-found/