*I recall one of my greatest fears during pregnancy was something happening to my baby. While I was a generally happy pregnant woman, all the talk about children dying in their sleep —Â Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)Â — or children born with low birth weight not making it to their first year scared the crap out of me. This was especially harsh since I was a low birth-weight child, born to an alcoholic mother.
I remember once I gave birth, for months thereafter, waking up every 30-minutes to turn my baby from her back to her stomach and vice-versa; or placing my finger under her little nose to make sure she was still breathing.
It was maddening, and not unlike many new mothers, I got very little sleep for the first 6-months of her life!
So when I read a report in the Sacramento Bee that claims children in impoverished areas of the county are dying — and Black children more than any other race or ethnicity even more so, it was very disconcerting. Especially in this day and age when so many medical strides have been made.
Why is this STILL happening?
First, a bit of background.
The Sacramento Bee reports that between 2010 and 2015, nearly one quarter of the 873 children 18 and under who died in Sacramento County were Black. And at that time Black children only made up 11 percent of the population represented in that age category.
Read more at EURThisNthat.
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