ABSTRACT
Parents might find it more helpful if doctors and pathologists explained that research suggests that babies who die of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) have a silent and undetectable medical problem that causes their death. Numerous studies and press clippings about ordinary life show that parents whose child dies suddenly want to know and understand the cause of death. Their need for an explanation triggers their search for a reason. The parents had shifted from searching for a specific cause to searching for the logic in the loss of their baby. Religious explanations gave parents somewhere for their child to be: heaven. Such explanations also provided parents with a goal: to be reunited with their child. As parents tried to handle their grief, their thoughts and feelings affected their behavior. Those who adopted the controlled mourning strategy used their minds to control the display of their emotions and to talk themselves out of their grief.
