Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is a term that refers to the sudden deaths of infants under one year of age that can not be predicted on the basis of their health, and that even after autopsy, a thorough death scene investigation and a thorough examination of medical records the child remains unexplained.

The sudden death syndrom usually occurs for babies who seems to be completely healthy, after bedtime, and with no obvious external faults or causes of death to be tracked down. After excluding all other possible causes of death, usually SIDS is being diagnosed.

The reasons that lead to SIDS remain a mystery for now. However, it is certain that SIDS is not caused by suffocation, immunological disorders, vomiting, or other illnesses, such as colds or other infections.

SIDS remains one of the leading causes of death among children in developed countries. Along with other unexplained deaths occurs by 1 out of 3,000 children. In 2011, the SIDS was one of the three main reasons of infant's death in the United States. Most frequently, the death occurred between 2-4 months of age. SIDS occurs regardless of race, socio-economic situation, religion or nationality.


SIDS usually has the following typical features:

• Deaths occur very suddenly, within hours from putting baby to sleep.
• For SIDS it is very typical that the baby is not crying or wailing.
• Before the event, the baby usually appears to be completely healthy, well fed and generally seems to feel well. The truth is that it is not unusual to notice presence of typical symptoms in viral infections, particularly upper respiratory and digestive tract before the occurrence of SIDS.