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One of the most common types of Parasomnias is Sudden infant death syndrome. Sudden infant death syndrome abbreviated as SIDS is a syndrome that is characterized by sudden unexplained death of a healthy infant. Infants who are a month old to one year age are the most vulnerable to this disease. The Sudden infant death syndrome is also called as cot death. However this term for the disease is more commonly used in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia. In America, it is known as crib death. As the name of the disease applies, SIDS is a sleep disorder that causes sudden and unexplained death of infants less than one year of age. The worst part of the disease is that since it is attacks suddenly without any warning, one cannot to anything it and it can happen in healthy babies also. Most of these SIDS deaths however occur when the baby is sleeping and there are no signs that indicate suffering of any kind.

Even though the disease is diagnosed with the signs and symptoms of the disease but most of the diagnoses is only done when all the possible death causes have been ruled out completely and this involves reviewing the medical history of the infant as well as the environment. Only with this review is it possible to distinguish between a true SIDS death from a death that can be caused by accident, abuse, or other conditions that were left undiagnosed like metabolic or cardiac disorders. If you are wondering how the risk factors can be determined before the babies face an attack, then it can be pointed out saying that there is no single risk factor that could be responsible for a SIDS death. There can be a combination of several signs and symptoms of SIDS which can cause the disease.

Most of the cases of SIDS are reported when the kids are 2 to 4 months of age. However, the incidence of the disease becomes more in a cold weather. Also, the infants of African-American origin are twice more vulnerable to the disease than the Native American infants who are in turn three times more vulnerable to SIDS death than the infants who are caucasian. Again, boy children are more likely to get the SIDS deaths than the girl children. Some of the risk factors that can lead to Sudden infant death syndrome include smoking, drinking or using drugs when pregnant. Also factors like poor prenatal care, premature birth or low birth-weight, under aged mothers, and stomach sleeping can also lead to the disease. There is no single but several causes of Sudden infant death syndrome. A number of factors can interact which results in this disease. It also depends on the way the infants develop and their physiological response to environmental stressors.