Neither here nor there and a little bit of both: The ambiguous loss experience of parents who lost a baby to sudden infant death syndrome

Abstract

Losing a baby to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) triggers a severe loss reaction. The severity of the loss may be attributed to the baby’s age, the lack of satisfactory explanation for the death, and a lack of social recognition. The current study aimed to examine the loss experience of Israeli parents (N = 12) who lost a baby to SIDS through the theoretical lens of ambiguous loss. A deductive and inductive thematic analysis revealed that, for these bereaved parents, entities of the baby—physical and psychological—are unclear. Thus, the parents’ loss is likewise unclear and ambiguous.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Mrs. Noa Avitan and Mrs. Gal Yitzhak for conducting a well-designed sensitive qualitative interview, and to Mrs. Shani Pitcho-Prelorentzos for her important enlightening comments. The author would also like to thank the research participants who have helped to ensure that I learn as much as possible from their tragic loss. My heart is with them.

Disclosure statement

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.