The Sids Survival Guide: Information and Comfort for Grieving Family and Friends and Professionals Who Seek to Help Them

Formerly THE SIDS SURVIVAL GUIDE, this anthology was re-named in 2003 to reflect a broader readership. Revised and updated for 2003, it provides new research information and new articles and poems by parents who've lost children to SIDS and other deaths such as suffocation. Nineteen chapters cover everything from the particular grief of mothers, fathers, siblings, grandparents, and child-care providers to guilt, anger, dreams, premonitions, peer and professional support, planning funerals, enduring anniversaries, and having subsequent children.

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is "the most common cause of death for babies between the ages of one month to one year," yet few parents know much about it until their families are affected. Although this book is primarily a resource for grief-stricken families recovering from the loss of their children, it's also a primer for all prospective parents, especially the chapter titled "What Everyone Should Know about SIDS." The information is interlaced with heartrending personal experiences and poetry supplied by family members who responded to Horchler's call for contributions through parent support groups. Resources are cited, including two addresses to help remove one's name from new-parent mailing lists and avoid the deluge of junk mail proffering special offers--a painful reminder of loss. Denise Perry Donavin

Horchler, the mother of a baby who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), and Morris, a speaker on parenting issues, have compiled an outstanding collection. This book consists of poems, letters, diary entries, and essays written by parents, grandparents, professional counselors, siblings, friends, and babysitters-all of whom discuss their personal experiences in confronting SIDS. After an informational opening chapter, the remaining 17 chapters focus on confronting one's loss and that of loved ones and how to move forward. Whether the subject is dealing with funeral arrangements or "Children Grieving Children," the writing is moving, helpful, and hopeful. This exceptional book will be useful in every library; larger public libraries may want multiple copies.
Kay Brodie, Chesapeake Coll., Wye Mills, Md.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.