Study May Show Cause of SIDS

This week a study was released that shows in its preliminary data that scientists are coming closer to determining another factor – and perhaps the cause – of SIDS deaths. Reported last night on NBC’s Nightly News and this morning on the Today Show, the study – led by Children’s Hospital Boston – found that babies who died of SIDS had reduced levels of a chemical called serotonin, which helps regulate breathing, blood pressure and heart rate in the brain during sleep. Essentially, if a baby with low levels of serotonin is put face down in the crib and begins to re-breathe carbon dioxide, it may not be able to respond correctly by lifting or turning its head and waking up.

While we still have a ways to go to understand SIDS completely, this is a very encouraging step in the right direction. Researchers will work towards a screening test for serotonin levels in a baby’s brain so that we can identify babies who may be at greater risk for SIDS.

Furthermore, the study supports the practice of reducing the risk of putting babies on their backs at nap or bed time to reduce the risks of SIDS. Our educational onesies include several safe sleeping tips on the back, which I’ve listed below. Check out www.thissideupcampaign.org to learn more about our efforts.

Keep me safe by:
· Placing me on my back while sleeping

· Giving me a pacifier at nap and bed time

· Keeping me out of a grown-up’s bed

· Removing all toys from where I sleep

· Not allowing adults to smoke around me

· Keeping me from getting overheated

· Breastfeeding me as often as possible

Smoking and SIDS; Virginia Launches Campaign to Battle Smoking While Pregnant

It seems Virginia is about to launch a campaign to educate others about the risk factors of smoking while pregnant. It can cause premature births, low birth weight-- I think it is all on the the side of the cigarette package. 

Click here to learn what's about to happen. Renee McCoy Wiggins said she stopped smoking as soon as she learned she was pregnant four months ago.

Here is some information from the article:

The city's infant mortality rate, at 12.4 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2007, is higher than the state average of 7.7 deaths for every 1,000 babies born.

Just as troubling for health officials, though, is the fivefold racial disparity. In Richmond, the infant mortality rate for African-American babies is 19 deaths per 1,000 live births compared with about four deaths per 1,000 live births among whites.

In terms of lives lost, 41 Richmond infants died before reaching age 1 in 2007 -- 36 black and five white.

"There are many things that can impact someone having a healthy birth, and we know that smoking is one of those things," said Rose Stith Singleton of the Richmond Healthy Start Initiative, a Richmond Social Services program.

HCECF, Hayes Foundation Form Partnership to Increase Awareness of SIDS in East Central Florida: Tampa Bay Buccaneers Kicker Matt Bryant Lends Support

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Karen van Caulil, Ph.D.                                                                          Contact: Sean Ryan

Health Council of East Central Florida, Inc.                                                                 The Hayes Foundation

407.977.1610 (ext. 222)/kvancaulil@hcecf.org                             804.788.1414/sryan@hodgespart.com                 

 

HCECF, Hayes Foundation Form Partnership

to Increase Awareness of SIDS in East Central Florida

 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Kicker Matt Bryant Lends Support to “This Side Up” Campaign

 

ORLANDO, June 12, 2009 – The Health Council of East Central Florida (HCECF), the Orange County Healthy Start Coalition, the Orange County Health Department, the 100 Women Strong Giving Circle and The Hayes Foundation today announce the formation of a partnership aimed at raising awareness of SIDS and safe-sleeping practices in Orange County.  The Hayes Foundation, based out of Virginia, was started by a woman who lost her child to SIDS.

 

HCECF will implement The Hayes Foundation’s This Side Up campaign, an educational effort that reminds anyone who looks after a baby (parents, grandparents, siblings and daycare providers) that babies are at less of a risk of SIDS if placed on their backs at nap or bed time.  Funded by a grant from the 100 Women Strong, HCECF will distribute the campaign’s educational onesies to all babies born in Orange County hospitals.  The onesies read “This Side Up…While Sleeping” on the front and offer additional safe-sleeping tips on the back.   The grant funding will cover the costs of the campaign for several months, but the campaign will also include a “pay it forward approach” to the community to continue the distribution of the onesies.

 

“The onesies are a reminder of a topic that many parents and caregivers are uncomfortable discussing,” said Karen van Caulil, executive director of HCECF. “They are a tangible way to start the conversation about SIDS and safe-sleeping habits for babies. We have seen SIDS deaths occur all too often in our community.  It’s our hope to educate and raise awareness of ways we can reduce our risk.”

 

Added Kyra Oliver, who founded The Hayes Foundation days after her son Hayes died of SIDS at 4½ months: “We are thrilled that the Health Council of East Central Florida is willing to help us spread our message and raise awareness of SIDS.  Our vision is to create a world without SIDS, and this partnership will take us one step closer to that goal.” 

 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicker Matt Bryant and his wife Melissa have also joined the effort to spread the This Side Up campaign. The Bryants, known in the Tampa Bay community for their support of children and those in need through the March of Dimes, Special Olympics and Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, among others, lost 3-month-old son Matthew Tryson Bryant to SIDS last September.

 

“SIDS doesn’t discriminate: It can affect any family at any time,” said Matt Bryant, the Bucs’ 2007 nominee for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year award for his playing ability and community service. “We are living proof of that and want to remind every parent not to take anything for granted. We hope we can help spread the This Side Up message here in Central Florida, in Tampa Bay and across Florida.”  

 

About 2,500 families in the United States lose a baby to SIDS each year. That’s about half as many deaths related to SIDS as in 1994 when the national Back to Sleep campaign was introduced.  

 

“Although we have seen a decline of SIDS deaths locally in recent years, the rate of sudden unexpected infant deaths in Orange County continues to increase and probably includes babies who were not put to sleep as safely as possible,” Dr. van Caulil said. “We believe this campaign will help educate anyone who looks after a baby of the proper sleeping position and environment.”

 

The Hayes Foundation introduced the This Side Up campaign in 2006 as an extension of Back to Sleep with the goal of putting a tangible reminder in the hands of those who look after babies. The Hayes Foundation has distributed more than 50,000 onesies in more than 20 hospitals in Virginia and Tennessee and through Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s Smart Beginnings Initiative. In April, it partnered with The Raise Foundation to launch the campaign in Orange County, Calif.

“SIDS continues to puzzle the medical community,” Oliver said. “While it’s not possible to prevent SIDS, research has proven there are factors that can reduce the risk of SIDS. That’s what our campaign is about.”

 

Oliver’s son Hayes was sleeping on his stomach while at daycare when she got a phone call that he wasn’t breathing. Just as she was getting to know her son, he was gone. In the days following his death, she started The Hayes Foundation in his honor. Since its founding in 2002, the foundation has raised more than $500,000 for SIDS awareness and education.

 

Organizations interested in learning more about the This Side Up onesies project or who are interested in donating to this important cause can contact the Health Council of East Central Florida at 407.977.1610 for more information.

 

* * *

About The Health Council of East Central Florida

The Health Council of East Central Florida is 501c3 non-profit organization, the regional health planning agency for Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Brevard counties.  HCECF engages in community-based planning that improves health and promotes wellness in the region.  HCECF serves as an objective source of healthcare information, fostering community dialogue on contemporary health issues and developing solutions for emerging health needs.   For more information, visit www.hcecf.org

 

About The Hayes Foundation

The Hayes Foundation is a nonprofit organization that was started in 2002 by Kyra Oliver days after her 4½-month-old son Hayes died of SIDS. The foundation, based in Richmond, Va., has raised more than $500,000 for SIDS education and research and has helped raise awareness of SIDS prevention among thousands of families. Its This Side Up campaign launched in March 2006 to educate parents and anyone who cares for a baby that the safest way for babies to sleep is on their backs. For more information, visit www.hayesfoundation.org and www.thissideupcampaign.org. 

 

 

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‘This Side Up’ SIDS-awareness campaign goes to California

We are so proud of our partnership with the Raise Foundation. Special thanks to everyone at Raise, the Hodges Partnership and Richmond Times Dispatch! 

Below is what the RTD printed today. 

By STAFF REPORTS

Published: May 6, 2009

The Hayes Foundation, a Richmond-based nonprofit organization, has formed a partnership with a California group to raise awareness about sudden infant death syndrome and to promote safe sleeping.

The Raise Foundation of California's Orange County will join the Hayes Foundation's "This Side Up" campaign, which includes distribution of infant body suits imprinted with "This Side Up . . . While Sleeping" on the front and additional safe-sleeping tips on the back.

The suits will be distributed to Orange County hospitals, public-health sites and family resource centers, a spokesman for the Hayes Foundation said this week.

The "This Side Up" campaign, started in Virginia in 2006, aims to educate new parents and caregivers that babies are at less of a risk of SIDS if placed on their backs to sleep. The Hayes Foundation has distributed more than 50,000 body suits across Virginia and Tennessee.

Kyra Oliver founded the Hayes Foundation in 2002 after her son, Hayes, died of SIDS at age 4 months. Find out more at HayesFoundation.org.

-- Bill Lohmann

http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/lifestyles/health_med_fit/medical/article/SIDE06_20090505-223203/266010/

Re: Hayes Foundation Press Conference: Orange County Register Mention

Good Afternoon,

Many of you know that we have formed a new partnership to launch the This Side Up campaign  in Orange County, California taking things to a national level. I am heading to LA  to take part in a press conference on Thursday that will announce the launch. Hopefully we will get air time on all of the TV stations in the LA and surrounding area.

We are already getting some coverage!
We’re up and running on a blog on the OC Register.
 
http://healthyliving.freedomblogging.com/2009/04/28/babies-to-model-sids-prevention/5297/
 
Please share this with your friends.

Best,
Kyra Oliver
Founder and Chairman of the Board
Hayes Foundation
www.hayesfoundation.org

Missing My Baby

I miss Hayes so much. There. I said it. And you can too. The holidays is a very tough time because we feel so much more pain. We miss our loved ones.

It takes alot of effort to feel. But it is important to do this. It does not mean that you have to sit in a corner and mope. Well, you can if you want. But, going for a walk and talking to yourself is fine. Or writing about how you feel in a diary is fine. Invite a family member to take a walk with you and share your feelings. It is ok. And it will feel good.

One thing that I have learned recently is to ask for help. It may be hard to do this because we don't want to bother others. But often they don't know that you want to talk. Let them know. They will listen.

Hayes died of SIDS a little over 6 years ago. I can only imagine how much fun it would be to see him here with our family. I will continue to grieve in the best way I know how. I have learned to live with it as time goes on, but that does not mean that the pain goes away. It really is just that-- I have learned to live with it. Living with it means addressing it, not ignoring it. Ignoring it is not living with it. Remember that it is ok to grieve.

Reducing the Risk: Fans and SIDS

A recent study revealed that putting a fan in your baby’s room might reduce the risk of SIDS by 72 percent. What’s more, Newsweek reported of another study by the journal Pediatrics that 25 percent of parents of 3-month-olds still aren’t following the recommendation that babies sleep on their backs. The majority of SIDS deaths occur when a baby is 2 to 4 months old.

This number is alarmingly high – in light of the fact that “Back to Sleep” has been suggested since 1994 – and is exactly why we believe there needs to be more education and why we started the This Side Up campaign. If 25 percent of parents don’t know babies are safest from SIDS when sleeping on their backs, wouldn’t you expect the number to be much higher for grandparents? Baby sitters? Daycare providers?

Celebrity Moms for SIDS

October is SIDS Awareness Month. I was excited to hear about the Style My Stroller Campaign – an effort by the CJ Foundation for SIDS to raise awareness of SIDS.

Maclaren donated strollers, which were designed by Angie Harmon (who is expecting her third child), Tori Spelling (who welcomed her second baby in June), Ashlee Simpson and Marissa Jaret Winokur and auctioned off from Oct. 6-13. We’re still waiting to see the finished designs and hear about how much was raised.

Starting a SIDS conversation

In memory of my son, Hayes Hitzeman, I envision a future in which no parent loses a child to SIDS - Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

I began the Hayes Foundation in 2002 days after Hayes' untimely and heartbreaking passing with the goal of raising awareness of SIDS and helping to further research so that we all might understand how to help prevent babies dying from this unexplained disease. One of the Hayes Foundation's major efforts is the This Side Up campaign, which is helping to distribute educational baby garments in hospitals across Virginia and Tennessee so that parents and caregivers will understand that the safest way for a baby to sleep is on his back.

As I begin this blog, though, I invite you to come back often for updates on SIDS research, the This Side Up campaign, and most importantly, to help create a community where we can spread the word about ways to reduce the risk of SIDS.