How Stress and Crisis Affects Childhood

My parents were both young children during the Great Depression of the 1920s.  My mom was part of a large family, living on a farm in Wisconsin.  All of the kids worked both on their family farm and for neighbors.  It was not an option, there was no complaining about anything, you got up and worked.  The only exception was Sundays when the family attended church before working in the fields. My father was six when his dad died from a railroad accident. My grandmother, then a widow relied on her two sons, 6 and 12 to help provide.  The older son left school and began working full time. My father was left home alone to care for the house and himself. 

This early exposure to financial hardship caused my parents to have a very strong work ethic as well as a need to always have money in the bank.  Both of my parents worked fulltime jobs, even though at this time it was common for the wife to stay home and take care of the house and kids.  They instilled in my brother and I that responsibilities were always the first priority of the day.  We each had bank accounts as very young children and allowances and birthday money was deposited and saved for emergencies.

The resources that were available to families in the depression were limited. There was no government assistance, you found work, or you starved.  Many families left farms and towns in the mid-west and headed west for new job prospects.  Other families banded together, taking in many generations into one home.  Many more children were left in orphanages because the parents could not afford to care for them.   The Great depression was 80 plus years ago and there are not many people around who remember it.  Unfortunately, between the banking, housing, and health care crisis, many Americans are finding themselves in similar situations. 

March 11, 2011 Japan endured a 9.0 earthquake, a tsunami, and a nuclear power plant disaster.  I started to wonder how this is affecting the children in Japan, especially those immediately affected by the disasters.  Because the crisis is new, there was not a lot of information about the long-term effects.  I was impressed with the concern by the Japanese officials for the children’s well being and emotional stability.  In a town that was devastated by the tsunami, a school building survived.  Thirty children remained at the school six days after the event, their parents among those that were missing and presumed dead.  The school officials refused to let reports talk to the children.  They were concerned that it would produce false hope in the children. 

I thought back to the attacks here in the United States on September 11, 2001.  Did we go out of our way to protect the children?  I live on the other side of the country and did not know anyone who was directly affected by the tragedy of 9-11, but I do remember that every channel, even those that normally showed other types of programming, showed the twin towers burning and collapsing for days on end. 

In Japan, people were concerned that the children would be scared and not understand what was happening on the news in regards to the nuclear power plant disaster.  They quickly produced a cartoon that explained the problem in a way that was meaningful and relevant to children. They told the children that the plant was sick with stomach problems and the concern was that it would poop and make a mess that would be difficult to clean-up and would harm the environment around it.

Taking something as devastating as what happened in Japan, and making a cartoon that explains it in a way that is understandable to children, will provide them some emotional security.  Many times it is the unknown that scares children the most and leaves them feeling unsafe. 

Sudden Infant Death

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)  is the condition given by the coroner when no other cause or explanation for the death of a child under the age of one can be found.    SIDS occurs most often to children between the ages of two and four months.  A greater number of deaths happen during the winter months, and the most deaths happen to children under the age of six months. 

Researchers believe that rather that a single cause of SIDS, there are events that place an infant at a  greater risk for  a combination of factors  that may cause death.  The number one factor in SIDS is the infant’s sleep position.  Since 1992  the  experts have advised parents to put their infants to sleep on their backs.  This alone has reduced the number of SIDS cases by 50%.   Sleeping on their back, opens the airway, reducing the chance of  SIDS.

·         Other risk facts include:

·         Exposure to tobacco smoke, even the residue on a caregiver’s clothes. 

·         Low Birth Weight

·         Mother’s age at birth  and/ or  lack of prenatal care

·         Child’s Race.  (African American infants are twice as likely at Caucasian infants to be affected by SIDS and  American Indian and Alaskan Native babies are three times more likely than a white baby to die of SIDS.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends that parents of young infants always  put their infants to sleep on their backs, even for naps .  Parents need to make sure that all of their caregivers are consistently placing the baby on its back.  A higher number of SIDS deaths occur when a normally back sleeping baby is placed on its stomach for a nap. 

Another recommendation from the  National Institute of Child Health, is about the bed itself.  An infant’s bed should be free of toys, pillows, blankets or crib padding.  Many new parents want to decorate the baby’s crib to match their nursery.  An infant’s sleep area should consist of a firm mattress and sheet.  If the weather dictates using a blanket, the  blanket should be tucked into the sides and bottom of the mattress and only cover the baby about waist high.  This is so keep the baby’s face from becoming covered and re-breathing their expelled air.

Co-sleeping is considered a risk factor of SIDS. If you bring your baby to bed to breast-feed, make sure to return them to their own bed to avoid the baby becoming overheated or turned in a position that may restrict their breathing.

World-wide rates of SIDS have declined dramatically since the ‘Back to Sleep’ campaign began in the U.S. in 1992 and around the world over the following years.  I have included a graph, which indicates the number of SIDS death over the last decades.

FIGURE 1

Graphic trends in PNM and SIDS rates: 1990–2005. ^aRates were halved to keep comparisons of countries on the same scale; ^bdata were unavailable at the time of submission for 2005 SIDS rates.

                                               (Hauck & Tanabe, 2008)

While I do not have any personal experience with SIDS, I do work with families and young infants everyday.  I alays try to make new parents aware of the risk factors and help them make  changes that will lower their infant’s risk.

References

American S. I. D. S. Institute. (2009). Reducing the risk of SIDS. Retrieved from http://sids.org/nprevent.htm

Hauck, F. R., & Tanabe, K. O. (2008, September 1). International trends in sudden infant death syndrome: Stabilization of rates require further action. [Electronic version]. Pediatrics, 3.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (Publisher). (2005). Safe sleep for you baby

Sudden Infant Death

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)  is the condition given by the coroner when no other cause or explanation for the death of a child under the age of one can be found.    SIDS occurs most often to children between the ages of two and four months.  A greater number of deaths happen during the winter months, and the most deaths happen to children under the age of six months. 

Researchers believe that rather that a single cause of SIDS, there are events that place an infant at a  greater risk for  a combination of factors  that may cause death.  The number one factor in SIDS is the infant’s sleep position.  Since 1992  the  experts have advised parents to put their infants to sleep on their backs.  This alone has reduced the number of SIDS cases by 50%.   Sleeping on their back, opens the airway, reducing the chance of  SIDS.

·         Other risk facts include:

·         Exposure to tobacco smoke, even the residue on a caregiver’s clothes. 

·         Low Birth Weight

·         Mother’s age at birth  and/ or  lack of prenatal care

·         Child’s Race.  (African American infants are twice as likely at Caucasian infants to be affected by SIDS and  American Indian and Alaskan Native babies are three times more likely than a white baby to die of SIDS.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends that parents of young infants always  put their infants to sleep on their backs, even for naps .  Parents need to make sure that all of their caregivers are consistently placing the baby on its back.  A higher number of SIDS deaths occur when a normally back sleeping baby is placed on its stomach for a nap. 

Another recommendation from the  National Institute of Child Health, is about the bed itself.  An infant’s bed should be free of toys, pillows, blankets or crib padding.  Many new parents want to decorate the baby’s crib to match their nursery.  An infant’s sleep area should consist of a firm mattress and sheet.  If the weather dictates using a blanket, the  blanket should be tucked into the sides and bottom of the mattress and only cover the baby about waist high.  This is so keep the baby’s face from becoming covered and re-breathing their expelled air.

Co-sleeping is considered a risk factor of SIDS. If you bring your baby to bed to breast-feed, make sure to return them to their own bed to avoid the baby becoming overheated or turned in a position that may restrict their breathing.

World-wide rates of SIDS have declined dramatically since the ‘Back to Sleep’ campaign began in the U.S. in 1992 and around the world over the following years.  I have included a graph, which indicates the number of SIDS death over the last decades.

 

(Hauck & Tanabe, 2008)

.

While I do not have any personal experience with SIDS, I do work with families and young infants everyday.  I alays try to make new parents aware of the risk factors and help them make  changes that will lower their infant’s risk.

References

American S. I. D. S. Institute. (2009). Reducing the risk of SIDS. Retrieved from http://sids.org/nprevent.htm

Hauck, F. R., & Tanabe, K. O. (2008, September 1). International trends in sudden infant death syndrome: Stabilization of rates require further action. [Electronic version]. Pediatrics, 3.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (Publisher). (2005). Safe sleep for you baby