A Texas hospital is releasing statistics on the number of infant deaths caused by co-sleeping and other unsafe sleeping conditions to warn parents and raise awareness.
Thirty infants have died due to unsafe sleeping conditions since January 2022, according to the Cook Children Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, Fox News reported. It is said to be more than the combined number of children's deaths caused by tragic gunshot wounds and drownings, and the highest peak since 2008.
Just one of the 400 hospitals in the state, the hospital shares its statistics in the attempt to warn parents and raise awareness about co-sleeping and the risk it poses to infants, as well as the peril that can result from babies' sleeping environment surrounded by pillows, blankets, loose garments and other objects.
Infants Should Separately Sleep on Flat Surfaces
According to a press release from the hospital issued last week, most of the recorded infant deaths happened when a parent or caregiver slept in the same bed with the baby, and the former waking up to find the baby unresponsive.
Trauma records at Cook Children's revealed a list of other various circumstances that led to cardiac arrest or respiratory failure, fatal conditions the babies were in when they were brought to the hospital. These circumstances include "babies placed on a pillow with a propped bottle, in the crib with a blanket or pillow, in a recliner or on the couch next to a sleeping adult, or wearing a loose T-shirt that covered their face."
Aside from stating that the numbers for the past 15 months has been the hospital's highest surge, trauma injury prevention coordinator Sharon Evans stated that the new statistics showed that the highest unsafe sleep deaths were under the demographics of Black boys from two to six months old.
Candle Johnson, Advanced Practice Registered Nurse and Primary Care Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner at Cook Children's Renaissance Neighborhood Clinic in South Fort Worth cannot help but emphasize "Safe Sleep" with her patient parents and families. It is crucial for parents to understand that the best and safest way for babies is to sleep on flat surfaces like a bassinet or a crib. She further stated that co-sleeping can sometimes wedge the infants between headboards and mattresses, or lead them to be suffocated under blankets, and worst, come under their parent's or caregiver's body.
"It seems to be so much easier to co-sleep when breastfeeding. I do advise against that because even though it may be easier, it's not safe. No one can control their body function once they're sleeping. When you're in a deep sleep and your infant is next to you, you're not able to say 'I won't roll over on them," Johnson declared.
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A case that is preventable
Johnson continued to discuss other factors that have increased the risk for babies to get fatally injured from unsafe sleep situations, and these include parents' or caregiver's lack of knowledge and education about safe sleep and distrust of medical advice, young maternal age, and poverty - the inability to afford a separate bassinet or crib for the baby or the space constraints inside a crowded- one bedroom house.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that there are about 3,500 infants that die every year in America because of unsafe sleeping conditions.
"Unfortunately, too many babies in this country are lost to sleep-related deaths that might be prevented," stated the CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald, M.D, to which Johnson strongly agreed.
The doctor explained, "Unless it hits home, it doesn't really resonate. We want them to understand this is a very preventable situation. Let's be proactive today, so we don't have to be reactive tomorrow. If a fatality happens, then how do we go forward when we could have prevented it from the beginning?"
With this, they have released a list of precautions for safe sleep.
Babies should always sleep on their back as side and stomach sleeping are not safe for infants who cannot roll over.
A firm, flat mattress or sleeping surface with tightly-fitted sheets should be used and not a sloped sleeping surface.
Parents should share a room but never a bed with the baby. Babies should sleep separately on their own cribs or bassinet.
The baby's sleep area should be clear from blankets, pillows, bumper pads and soft toys.
Aside from swaddling, sleep sacks are also recommended, especially if the baby is already able to roll over.
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