Why can't cpr save a baby that has died from sids?

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Answer by Francine
Submitted on 2/6/2004
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CPR or ANY other resurrective measures cannot save a baby from SIDS........... if the baby is saved, it is not SIDS. With SIDS there is no apparent cause for the death. There is no airway obstructions, the baby has not soffocated(ruled out in autopsy). Because it involves the brain, and little is known about what exactly happen or why it happens there is only that reason why ressurective measures would not save a baby who passes of SIDS. It simply doesn't work. The Doctor who pronounced Madison, came out and said to us..."Her color is good, but there is nothing we can do." I never thought that there could be anything that could steal your baby away for no apparent or good reason. It is an absolutely horrible feeling to have; especially when you have a Dr. telling you, that they don't know why this happens.

Answer by Valerie
Submitted on 3/11/2004
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Some scientists say, the babies are born with brain abnormalities that make them at a higher risk of dying from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. The brain abnormality is located in the arcuate nucleus which is the portion of the brain that controls the breathing and walking while the infants are sleeping. This part of the brain is effected by the mothers whom are smoking, involved drug use, or late prenatal care. The way that the arcuate nucleus works is when the brain does not get enough air it tells the babies to wake up from sleeping and to start crying. When that part of the brain has an abnormality the infants’ heartbeat and or breathing patters change to compensate for the lack of oxygen. This then leads to the high amount of carbon dioxide in the infants’ blood.

Answer by Francine
Submitted on 3/19/2004
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The serotonin levels you talk about are with a study called the 5htt gene study..... it is actually a theory I believe very strongly in............ but it's not just that the baby's are affected that way by external factors like This part of the brain is effected by the mothers whom are smoking, involved drug use, or late prenatal care................. they actually speculate in this theory that the majority of baby DON'T fit into this so called risk categories and maybe the baby is just born with the lower levels ....... I know that my daughter didn't fit into this risk categories at all and I had awesome prenatal care, and never smoked or did drugs in my life............ neither did my husband. And it's not that the brain doesn't get enough air to tell the baby to wake up and cry....... they theorize that if the baby is rebreathing exhaled air or any other event within the baby's body that would compromise .....such as low heart rate, blood pressure, the list goes on that since these levels are so low (and go lower when we sleep naturally) they aren't able to trigger the impulse (neurotransmitters) to send the "warning" to the baby to wake up.... something'swrong, and as a result the baby would pass in their sleep. Unfortunately, there aren't enough studies done to prove or deny this theory....... and normal autopsies do not inclue these serotonin test levels as part of their autopsy because it would involve removing and freezing the brainstem a certain way in order to do this........ usually autopsy samples are tissue samples that are collected and preserved with chemicals..... I just found this out and am quite disheartened by it because I would like to have had these levels tested on my daughter... It makes sense to me to test every thing you can test when it comes to an unexplained infant's death. Although my daughter didn't fit into these categories (and I would like to mention it is believed that 80-85% of SIDS deaths do NOT fit into this categories ) I will always wonder if it was these levels:(

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Question by Lisa
Submitted on 1/16/2004
Related FAQ: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) misc.kids FAQ
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Why can't cpr save a baby that has died from sids?

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