The cause of the number-one killer of apparently healthy infants between the ages of one week and one year-Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)-continues to defy science. This cruel mystery intensifies an already painful experience for bereaved parents, who frequently blame themselves for their baby's death. This book explores how parents grieve, the meanings and casual explanations they attribute to a SIDS death, the effects of their grief on family relationships, and the strategies they use to cope and carry on. Karen Martin's grounded theory study describes in detail the experiences of mothers and fathers whose babies died of SIDS ranging from less than one to over twenty-five years after the baby's death. Her work makes an important contribution to health fields and to the social science of medicine, and is a critical resource for family doctors, public health nurses, counsellors, ministers, and all those working with grieving parents.

Contents:1. Understanding SIDS and its impact2. Understanding the parents' experience: Loving a new baby3. Understanding the parents' experience: Being devastated4. Understanding the parents' experience: Trying to carry on while struggling for control5. Understanding the parents' experience: Learning to let go6. Understanding the parents' experience: Being changed7. Learning from the parents' experience: How people cope with traumatic events8. Making connections to other researchRecommendationsConclusionAppendicesBibliographyIndex