Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Coping and support
By Mayo Clinic staffThe death of a child can be overwhelming. Parents are often torn by guilt as well as grief. But SIDS can occur no matter how much you love and protect your baby. As of now, SIDS remains a mystery.
Seeking support from others
When you lose your baby to SIDS, the emotional support of others is especially important. You may find it comforting to talk to other parents whose lives have been touched by SIDS. If so, your doctor may be able to recommend a support group in your area, or you can visit an online SIDS chat room. But support groups aren't for everyone. For some people, talking to a trusted friend, counselor or member of the clergy may be more helpful.
If you can, keep an open line of communication with friends and family about how you're feeling. People want to help, but they may not know how to approach you. The baby's parents, especially, need to be as open as possible with one another. Losing a child can put a terrible strain on a marriage. Counseling may help some couples understand and express their feelings.
Allow time for healing
Finally, give yourself time to grieve. Don't worry if you find yourself crying unexpectedly, if holidays and other celebratory times are especially difficult, or if you're tired and drained much of the time. This is normal. You're dealing with a devastating loss. Healing takes time.
- What is SIDS? U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.www.sidscenter.org/documents/SIDRC/WhatIsSIDS.pdf. Accessed April 30, 2009.
- Moon R, et. al. Sudden infant death syndrome. Lancet. 2007:370:1578.
- Vennemann M, et al. Does breastfeeding reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome? Pediatrics 2009:123:e406.
- Baruteau A, et al. Role of congenital long-QT syndrome in unexplained sudden infant death: Proposal for an electrocardiographic screening in relatives. European Journal of Pediatrics. In press. Accessed May 6, 2009.
- Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). American Lung Association. http://www.lungusa.org/atf/cf/%7B7a8d42c2-fcca-4604-8ade-7f5d5e762256%7D/ALA_LDD08_SIDS_FINAL.PDF. Accessed April 30, 2009.
- Sudden infant death syndrome fact sheet (SIDS). American Lung Association. http://www.lungusa.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=2060727&content_id={DD8EAC73-1371-4129-9D82-0220D296D5E9}¬oc=1. Accessed May 7, 2009.
- Task force on sudden infant death syndrome. Policy statement: The changing concept of SIDS. Pediatrics. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/116/5/1245. Accessed April 30, 2009.
- Bacon C. Recurrence of sudden infant death syndrome. Pediatrics. 2008:122;869.
- Blair P, et al. Head covering - a major modifiable risk factor for sudden infant death syndrome: A systematic review. Archives of Disease in Childhood. 2008;93:778.
