[Psychosocial aspects of sudden infant death]

Following the sudden death of an infant, the parents and the siblings, if any, go through a very severe crisis with repercussions on the psychoaffective and professional domain, as well as on social relations. The parents' mourning after a sudden infant death is very often morbid. The characteristics of this infantile death which predispose to a complicated mourning period are the parents' impossibility to anticipate and the lack of cause of the baby's death. One of the most adverse consequences of such a situation would be the birth of a subsequent child before mourning is completed, for this child might well be regarded as a replacement child, and this would jeopardize his future psychosocial development.