I was reading in last Sunday’s Hattiesburg American newspaper an article entitled “Too many children dying a tag Miss. can do without” which stated that MS is the state with the highest rate of child deaths in the nation. This MS. rate is about twice the national average. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome was cited as one of the causes of the high death rate of children in MS. Of those SIDS deaths, most had a smoker in the household which has now been linked with a higher rate of SIDS deaths. Most of those babies were young infants less than four months old.

Babies breathing in second hand smoke is the issue at hand. Now most people in the United States and around the world have known for years the problems associated with first hand smoke and no one is uneducated today about the ill effects of breathing in secondhand smoke unless maybe they live in a cave somewhere. So these babies aren’t likely dying because their parents didn’t know better than to smoke around their babies. It has been common knowledge for years that second hand smoke is responsible for more upper respiratory problems, higher rates of asthma, and more severe ear infections. Now parental smoking is linked to higher rates of SIDS. This may be new information to some out there, so if you’re reading this now, it may not be too late for your child if you choose to make some behavior changes now.

Another fact that is often overlooked where Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is concerned is that SIDS has also been linked with mothers who choose not to breast-feed. Mothers who do choose breastfeeding are likely to lower the chances that their child will die from SIDS. One reason is that often the child sleeps next to the mother and her heart rate helps to regulate the child’s heart rate. There may be others possible explanations as well.

Needless to say, two of the most often overlooked ways to lessen the chances your child will die from SIDS is to stop smoking and choose to breast-feed. If you are a smoker and have an infant or a young child, you should already know better than to smoke in the close vicinity of your child. You shouldn’t smoke in the home, in your babies room, or in the car where your child may go. If you can’t stop smoking for yourself, then stop smoking for your child. If you need help to stop smoking then get it. Your child’s life may depend on it!