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Original poster

To be overwhelmed by the news that scientists have found a cause fir SIDS?

44 replies

BuanoKubiamVej · 13/05/2022 08:48

I've just been in floods of tears remembering all the babies who have died and all the mothers who will never get over their loss - DH saw a retweet of this and told me and I was just completely overwhelmed, didn't even see till later that this reaction was also the same for this tweeter - but the news is wonderful. Scientists at a hospital in Australia have found a deficiency of a specific enzyme in blood samples of babies who died of SIDS and this breakthrough could lead to a screening test that could identify babies that are at a higher risk, and potentially prevent those deaths occurring.

mobile.twitter.com/TheDebbieMia/status/1524867531319787523

I'm shocked that there's so little in the media about it - a Google found a few articles from Australian sources and an article in the Daily Mail - why isn't this bigger news? Are the non-DM newspapers sceptical about the reliability of the research? Surely this is amazing and worth shouting about?

OP posts:
Beefcurtains79 · 13/05/2022 08:49

I had no idea, that’s amazing.

JuneOsborne · 13/05/2022 08:50

Another one with no idea about this. Amazing.

KangarooKenny · 13/05/2022 08:52

It’s wonderful news.
Hopefully all the heartbroken parents will take some comfort from this, and hopefully this will do something towards preventing any deaths in the future.

ArmWrestlingWithChasNDave · 13/05/2022 08:55

It's very early and everyone should be very cautious about hailing this as the single 'cause' for SIDS. This is one of a long list of correlated or contributing factors that have been identified (e.g. parents smoking in the baby's home).

All the pieces of the puzzle will help SIDS rates continue to fall, but don't get carried away thinking this is the end of cot deaths.

picklemewalnuts · 13/05/2022 08:55

Wouldn't that be wonderful?

thunderandsunshine01 · 13/05/2022 09:00

I read about the theory that SIDS was caused by sleep apnea in babies about 5 years ago now. If you look up Jesssfam on YouTube, her youngest was found unresponsive as a baby (but was fortunately revived) she was diagnosed with sleep apnea, and the doctor mentioned then that she believed this to be the primary cause of SIDS. It’s a great break through

parietal · 13/05/2022 09:03

This research is a step forward but there will be a LOT more work to turn this idea into an actual test that works. And that might not be possible. We don't yet know if this hormone measure can predict anything.

So it is great science, but it is not going to make headlines in every news paper around the world yet.

Aimee1987 · 13/05/2022 09:15

Its because it s a single novel finding so far. The actual paper looks pretty good. It's got a high degree of significance however at the moment they have not fully explored mechanism and have only reported different levels of the enzyme. I think after things like the mass misreporting of inaccurate science with the mmr / autism papers media are more reluctant to run big headlines on completly novel findings untill some more confirmation has been Carried out.

But an exciting finding and like others have said hopefully may alieve some of that unknown guilt of parents

Aimee1987 · 13/05/2022 09:17

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35533499/
Heres a link to the actual paper if anyone is interested

Inthesameboatatmo · 13/05/2022 09:18

Absolutely no idea about this so thanks for posting op. It's a wonderful breakthrough

SoupDragon · 13/05/2022 09:24

I suspect there is no one cause but if they can find and prevent even just one of them that is marvellous news.

Onlyrainbows · 13/05/2022 09:26

We still don't know why some infants die of SIDS. This study showed that there is a biomarker (an enzyme) that some babies who die of SIDS have lower levels of.

Nothing is confirmed- this was a small study that found a correlation, not a causation.

In addition, this has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with safe sleep. Let's remember, most babies that die during their sleep do not die of SIDS, they die from from unsafe sleeping arrangements. An enzyme level will not save your child from positional asphyxia or strangulation.

Infinitemoon · 13/05/2022 09:28

I read about the theory that SIDS was caused by sleep apnea in babies about 5 years ago now. If you look up Jesssfam on YouTube, her youngest was found unresponsive as a baby (but was fortunately revived) she was diagnosed with sleep apnea, and the doctor mentioned then that she believed this to be the primary cause of SIDS. It’s a great break through

Yes this happened to my DS but combined with an 8 week vaccination and on a incredibly humid afternoon. I think if I would have found him a few minutes later he would have died. For three years we tried to get his tonsils removed as they were large and obstructive but the GP kept on saying he would grow into them. We basically had to monitor him continually until he was 3 years old as he was quite unwell, until they were removed.

He had sleep apnea it runs in our family.

theotherfossilsister · 13/05/2022 09:29

This is such excellent news. There are posters who have put heartbreaking stories on the bereavement board who I hope may find a little comfort in this information knowing it's nothing they did wrong.

MangshorJhol · 13/05/2022 09:31

I think SIDS itself covers a wide range of things. So changing how babies sleep cut down on a lot of what were called ‘cot deaths’ which is clearly not related to an enzyme. This doesn’t mean that newborns should be in their own room lying on their stomachs as long as they don’t have that enzyme.

FourTeaFallOut · 13/05/2022 09:34

I'm shocked that there's so little in the media about it - a Google found a few articles from Australian sources and an article in the Daily Mail - why isn't this bigger news?*

Because they think the general public are as thick as pig shit and that mothers will be rolling their babies on their stomachs and lighting up a cigarette by the end of the article.

RosesandMoonshine · 13/05/2022 09:36

Wonderful news!
But good news rarely hits the headlines :(

TheOriginalEmu · 13/05/2022 09:39

My brother died of SIDS, before the Back to Sleep campaign that helped so much. My mum was never the same after his death, and when that news broke that something so simple could have prevented it, I think it broke her beyond fixing; the guilt that had she done that he may have been ok. She passed away last year, I really wish she’d lived to hear this, that maybe it may have put her mind at ease a bit.

it’s fantastic news. I just feel a bit sad 😞

Georgeskitchen · 13/05/2022 09:40

There was a big campaign about 30 years ago when Ann Diamond sadly lost her son to Sids. One cause they discovered was some sort of chemical in cot mattresses, I believe. (memory failing a bit!)Ann was very much at the forefront of this campaign at the time.

PriestessofPing · 13/05/2022 09:40

I saw that this morning on Twitter, it’s amazing news.

TheOriginalEmu · 13/05/2022 09:41

MangshorJhol · 13/05/2022 09:31

I think SIDS itself covers a wide range of things. So changing how babies sleep cut down on a lot of what were called ‘cot deaths’ which is clearly not related to an enzyme. This doesn’t mean that newborns should be in their own room lying on their stomachs as long as they don’t have that enzyme.

The theory of why BTS worked is related to that enzyme. Basically babies sleep better on their front, which is why people did it…but in some (possibly those lacking the enzyme?) it works too well, they forget to breathe.

Butteryflakycrust83 · 13/05/2022 09:41

This is the best news I have heard in ages!

TheOriginalEmu · 13/05/2022 09:43

Georgeskitchen · 13/05/2022 09:40

There was a big campaign about 30 years ago when Ann Diamond sadly lost her son to Sids. One cause they discovered was some sort of chemical in cot mattresses, I believe. (memory failing a bit!)Ann was very much at the forefront of this campaign at the time.

That mattress thing was debunked as the study that found it was funded by a mattress company, and no one else was able to replicate the findings. Anne Diamond’s campaign was Back to Sleep, so your memory is sort of correct!

readytorelax · 13/05/2022 09:48

I saw this on TikTok this morning but yet to see it anywhere else. Obviously there is a long way to get yet and as PP's have said it's not the one and only cause of SIDS which I think is why the media aren't giving it much attention, but it's definitely a big step in the right direction!

TheYearOfSmallThings · 13/05/2022 09:48

It is one finding, and definitely worth researching further, but there is no single cause of SIDS and I think the media are being (unusually) responsible in not trumpeting this as such.