ABSTRACT
Parents wanted help for one of three reasons: they wanted someone to save the baby’s life; they wanted someone to try to save the baby or at least confirm the death or they wanted someone to help them deal with the baby’s death. The parents’ lack of knowledge about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) complicated their search for a reason. Most fathers had never heard of SIDS before, so this death made no sense to them at all. Hearing that their baby was dead “devastated” the parents. Few professionals used the word “dead.” The police and medical examiner’s investigators began the official search for the cause of the baby’s death. Finding the baby was like entering a nightmare. It set off feelings of terror or panic. The severity and nature of the parents’ reactions to the bad news depended upon their beliefs about their baby’s condition at that point.
