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.

Is Risk of SIDS Higher When Infant Sleeps Away From Home?

Hayes died while at his caregiver's home. I don't know if his death is associated with that. He was also on his tummy while taking a nap. I don't know about that either. SIDS is a category for when we don't know why they died. There is no known cause. Teh good news is that research is being conducted.

Investigators in Germany noted have several risk factors for SIDS, one of which is sleeping away from home. You can read the article here. 

"This study in general," the investigators conclude, "supports the current recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics," which call for parents put infants to sleep on their backs as opposed to their stomachs.