Fortunately, we don’t hear it as often as 40 years ago, but there are still about 20 to 30 cot death babies a year in the Netherlands!
By raising awareness and following the advice for safe sleeping, many cot deaths can be prevented in the future. A new book ‘SIDS: Knowledge and practice’ has been published as a reference work that presents the most up-to-date scientifically substantiated knowledge.
The book about cot death from 2002 was due for renewal. The updated book is a call to protect parents from cot death of their baby by properly and honestly informing them how they can reduce the risk of this. The target audience for this book is therefore broad: all professionals who work with babies and parents.
Cot death still occurs in the Netherlands
Prof. dr. Dr Guus de Jonge was the one who brought about the ‘big turnaround’ in 1987. On his advice, all child health clinics recommended that parents not put the babies to sleep on their stomachs. Nationally, the incidence of SIDS has fallen dramatically: from about 200 cases per year to 20 to 30 cases today.
Nevertheless, sleeping in the prone position is still an important risk factor for SIDS. Sleeping in the bed with the parents (bed sharing) increases the risk for up to 4 months, while sharing the parental bedroom – without sharing the bed – reduces the risk. The sleeping bag, which is widely used in the Netherlands, can also greatly reduce the risk of SIDS. Vulnerable groups with low health literacy, including some newcomers, are not always aware of the risk factors. We must continue to actively and specifically advise them from the obstetrics, maternity care and youth health services.
Precisely because parents know the advice and follow it well, SIDS is so rare in the Netherlands. New trends are not helping at the moment. Through social media and influencers, parents are shown photos of babies lying on and under soft duvets and pillows, sleeping on the couch or sofa, or sleeping in the prone position. If they don’t know the safe sleeping advice, parents may think that prone position and co-sleeping in one bed or on the same surface is the norm. And that is and will remain unsafe.
Jan Dulles, singer 3JS, suddenly and unexpectedly lost his 3-month-old daughter in 2020 and wrote the foreword to the book. A cause of death was found in his daughter, which is not the case with cot death babies. Jan Dulles aptly describes what the sudden loss has meant to him and his wife and how the environment has supported them in this.
Who is the book for
The Association of Parents of SIDS has taken the initiative to rewrite this book and the DUS-I fund of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport has contributed financially.
The book is intended for a broad target group: paediatricians, pediatricians, general practitioners, pediatric neonatology and youth nurses, social workers, gynaecologists, obstetricians, maternity nurses, psychologists, pedagogues, pedagogical employees of childcare and childminders, forensic doctors, mortuary employees, (children) pathologists, student nurses, interns and researchers.
How can I order this book?
You can receive this book at home by emailing your address details to [email protected], then it will be sent to you against payment of shipping costs.
Auteurs: Ir. Floortje Kanits, dr. Magda Boere-Boonekamp, dr. Monique L’Hoir, Dirk Ploegmakers, Dr Ben Semmekrot
A publication of the Association of Parents of Sudden Infants and the Expertise Group on Sudden Death of the Dutch Association for Pediatrics, 2022
ISBN 9789090356303
Bron: wiegedood.org/nl