Infant Sleep Related Deaths....SIDS and SUID

SIDS which stands for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is a diagnose of exclusion. Which means that when a seemingly healthy infant dies an autopsy is performed to see if the infant's body leaves any clues to what caused a baby to die. A death scene investigation is also performed looking at the environment the baby died in. Where the baby was found. A crib, in an adult bed, on a couch, in a swing or maybe a car seat. They also look at what position the baby was in when it was found. They also receive medical records from the pediatrician or hospital if applicable. Parents or caregivers are questioned and give either a coroner, medical examiner, or death scene investigator the details leading up to the child's death. It becomes an investigation for these professionals to find out what happened to this baby and to be able to give parents answers to what caused their child's death. I personally believe infant deaths that occur when the baby is sleeping is probably one of the hardest deaths to diagnose. SIDS and other sleep related infant deaths are hard to determine because when talking about a baby dying from SIDS or SUID (Sudden Unexplained Infant Deaths) first of all their body is very small which makes it harder to find clues that will explain their death. Also if a baby dies from SIDS there are often no signs, which also happens to be true when an infant dies from suffocation like a parent who bed shares and somehow the child suffocates whether from a parental layover or something obstructing the baby's airway. Now if an adult suffocated there would be physical signs but an infant is so tiny than the signs you would typically find in adults you most likely would not see in an infant.

Let me give you a good example:
My son Jaleel died while we were bed sharing even though I was not over weight, on drugs, and had not consumed alcohol. I placed my son on a pillow and rolled over and went to sleep. Now the next morning the pillow was found on top of his body. Now when the coroner came and questioned me I did not tell him about the pillow, I was scared. So they had a missing piece to what caused his death so they had to work with the clues they had which was he was breastfed 2 hours before bed, he was alive when I went to sleep, he was put to sleep on his back, but was found on his stomach in the morning, we were bed sharing and what physical signs they found on Jaleel and the light pink froth that was found on the sheet, pillow, and the dried froth that was on his face, and his autopsy. Now his autopsy came back saying "Undetermined with a history of co-sleeping" Which basically means they believed he died as a direct result of bed sharing but they could not prove it so had to put his cause of death as "undetermined" My son suffocated from that pillow but even an autopsy couldn't determine if he suffocated. The medical examiner who performed my son's autopsy said that with an infant that small even under a microscope it is very hard to tell if a baby suffocated.

Now we have come a long way in twenty years. We know some rules to help provide a safe sleep environment  that could lessen the chances of an infant dying. Like back to sleep, putting your baby on their back to sleep EVERY TIME, even at nap times. Babies who are put on their back to sleep and then sometimes on their stomach have a higher risk of dying from SIDS than a baby who is always placed to sleep on their stomach. We are learning that blankets, bumper pads, fluffy bedding, and bed sharing increase a baby's chance of dying. We know breastfeeding is very beneficial to the baby in many ways including lowering the risk of SIDS, but breastfed babies die from SIDS too! We know that introducing a pacifier can also reduce the risk of SIDS, and that over heating can contribute to SIDS and having a fan in the babies room can help to circulate the air that also can reduce the risk of SIDS. The more babies die (sadly) provides us with more answers and ways to protect our baby while sleeping, but there is one problem I have found with all this knowledge. First of all you have the parents who will say this is a little over board and that she was raised sleeping on her stomach, with bumper pads, blankets and she survived. Yes this mom did but they are thousands out there that didn't. Just because you survived or your kids did doesn't make it okay not to practice safe sleep guidelines for your present or future children and grandchildren. We need to be better than previous generations who didn't have the knowledge we do. We need to practice safe sleep to lower the risk of infant death and also for the babies who died because without them we wouldn't know what we do today! Please don't let their deaths be in vain, please provide a safe sleep space for your baby so at least something good can come from their death.

Another issue I have is the Internet. Now the Internet can be an amazing thing and it can be a horrible tool also. If you google bed sharing or co-sleeping you will find many articles citing how dangerous the practice is and how great it is. Online everyone can write a status, a blog, an article where others can search which can be great but you need to consider the source when it comes to taking advice on how you raise your children. Dr.Sears & Dr.McKennaMcKenna are not trained in SIDS reduction, they aren't SIDS experts and do not know the dangers that bed sharing can cause to an infant. Dr.Sears advises parents to bed share because it worked for him & his wife. Now that is great that it worked for his family. I am glad he doesn't know the pain and guilt that comes with losing a child to a bed sharing accident, but just because his kids were lucky does not mean it is a safe practice. When you become a doctor you take an oath to do no harm. I am sure in these doctors minds they aren't doing harm but sadly they are. Now Dr.McKenna has made some outrageous statements like babies who bed share don't cry. I understand his point for saying this because the mom is right there to meet the baby's needs but ALL babies cry regardless of where they sleep. I bed shared with two of my children and they both cried. Any doctor who studies infant deaths and the causes will tell you that bed sharing is a deadly practice even when so called "safe bed sharing" is practiced. The stories I could tell you like the mom who lost her daughter at 5 hours old after a nurse put the baby on a pillow to help get her to latch on and it worked and mom and baby feel asleep next thing this mother knows her newborn is whisked away as they try to work on her. Could you imagine having your baby and announcing it on Facebook and then hours later you are informing everyone your baby died due to an uneducated nurse? Or the mom who knew the risks associated with bed sharing and just ONE time she put her son in bed while she nursed and they fell asleep and next thing she knows he is dead, he died while nursing and somehow suffocated. Or the mom who bed shared and placed stuffed animals on the floor near the bed in case her daughter fell off the bed, she did fall off and suffocated on those stuffed animals, or the mom who slept with her baby and in the morning her shoulder was pressed into his face. These stories are real, babies die to educated parents who thought they were doing the best thing for their baby and now they have to live without their child and life with a life of guilt and what ifs.

I have really gotten off topic of what I wanted this post to be about and I apologize for that! The problem with SIDS  is even after decades of research and infants dying we still can't pin point what is the factor that causes these babies to die. I believe SIDS is real and my heart breaks for anyone who loses their child, especially when you have no clues to why your baby suddenly and unexpectedly died but SIDS and other infant deaths have become a real problem on many levels. Let me explain what I mean. I hope I do not offend anyone, as that is not my intent. This is my personal opinion take it for what it's worth, remember what I said about sources on the internet. First of all, we need to stop using a SIDS diagnosis as this is what by baby died from, when really it's a syndrome of no one knows why my baby died. SIDS isn't a cause of death it's an exclusion of death. All these years and we still don't know why babies die, so it had to be called something and so SIDS is the name, but the term doesn't explain what the baby died of, it explains what the baby didn't die of.

Another problem I have it how SIDS & SUIDS are diagnosed. There is no nation wide protocol, they are no signs to point to a SIDS death. two babies die in different counties both unexplained and sudden infant deaths and yet one baby is labeled as SIDS and the other is labeled undetermined also know as an SUID death. The coroner or medical examiner can put what ever they believe caused the death which is easy to do when you don't have a definitive cause of death. These days it is rare (well not rare but not as common as it was even five or ten years ago) for an autopsy to say SIDS. M.E,'s (Medical Examiners) are using other terms instead like undetermined, SUID, cause unknown SUDI (Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy), among others. I believe if a baby dies and they cannot find any contributing factors that caused the death then SIDS should be used! Now at the same time I do believe that SIDS is over diagnosed much like ADHD is. When your baby dies suddenly and at such a young age like in infancy parents are counting on the professionals who handle their baby's death to find the answers. No parent wants their child to have an autopsy performed but we don't have a choice as it is a state law when someone especially a healthy child dies. We expect to have answers that is why is it so crucial that the professionals gather all the information they can from all sources they can. Let me give you the opportunity to change how these deaths are handled and how they are classified. There is a bill we are desperately trying to get passed. The Stillbirth and SUID Prevention, Education and Awareness Act (S 1862/ HR 3418) is a bill that would provide education and prevention and a cause for stillbirths and for SIDS and SUID deaths would change so we have a standard across the board of how these deaths are examined and diagnosed please click on this link from the CJ for SIDS Foundation to learn more and to ask your local Representative to co-sponsor this crucial bill

I also have a problem with the terminology we use. There is a difference between bed sharing (when you sleep with a baby in bed with you) and co-sleeping (when the baby sleep next to you, but in their own sleep environment) also know as room sharing.  There is also a difference between SIDS and SUID. When an infant dies while sleeping we shouldn't assume the baby died from SIDS, because many babies do not die of SIDS. Sometimes a baby dies from a preventable death like from bed sharing, or a baby who dies from bumper pads, r blankets. These are not SIDS deaths but SUID, and yet when an infant dies the public assumes it is SIDS. We need to distinguish the difference between the different types of sleeping, along with the different types of infant deaths related to sleep.

Until we have better deaths scene investigations (and maybe that includes better training on what a SIDS death consists of and what a SUID death consists of) Now granted, I understand not all deaths are clear but sometimes we are labeling an infant death SIDS when is isn't and an SUID death when it isn't. How can we ever have better answers if these professionals put whatever they want down. This is their job and I would hope they can be professional regardless of their personal feelings. I believe many babies are dying from unsafe sleep and yet without the correct statistics on these deaths we will never have the answers. Regardless if it is SIDS or an SUID death there are steps as a parent or caregiver we can do to reduce the risk of death. You wouldn't risk placing your child in a car without a car seat, so don't risk your child's life while sleeping. Learn from the babies who have died so we would have better answers so your baby doesn't become a statistic. Think of it..babies spend most of their time sleeping, so wouldn't it make sense to protect them from hidden dangers while they do what they do best....{sleep} If you have any questions especially sleep related please do not hesitate to leave a comment, shoot us an email at pausesafesleep@gmail.com or find us on our FB page. Together we can make a difference by educating on safe sleep especially friends or family who are expecting a baby or who have infants and toddlers, by asking your Representative to co-sponsor the bill I mentioned above.  Let's worth together to dramatically reduce the infant mortality in our country and other countries as well. Our children are our future, what kind of future will we have if babies keep dying?

The Alarming Numbers of Infant Deaths due to Unsafe Sleep

Everyday in the United States 12 babies die from being placed in an unsafe sleep environment. That equals to 4, 380 babies that die every year from unsafe sleep. 4,380 parents wake up to find their baby unresponsive, have to preform CPR, have a coroner come and investigate their home and figure out how and why the baby died. That is 4,380 coffins or cremations and 4, 380 parents who will live with a life of guilt, sorrow, what-if's, cherished memories, and empty dreams. 4,380 babies that will never grow up and it could have been prevented.


*Note: This does not include a SIDS death, but we will get to that a little later*


How can so many babies die without others being aware of this silent killer? Did you know the number was so high? Neither did I and I work to educate parents on creating a safe sleep environment for infants.  How can so many infants die everyday and yet we aren't doing all we can to educate parents and caregivers to reduce and eliminate these tragic numbers?


The recent news articles are alarming:

"Sleep mishaps leading cause of infant deaths"

~"The Stark County Child Fatality Review Board reviewed all deaths of Stark County children up to 17 years old since 2000.

Between 2000 and 2009, there were 50 sleep-related deaths. And 38 were the result of co-bedding with other people, according to Stark County Health Commissioner William Franks."

"Children Die as Dangers are Ignored"

~"In the last several years, dozens of Missouri families have dealt with unfathomable losses in the very places they were assured their babies' safety would come first: paid child care.

From 2007 through 2010, at least 45 children - most of them infants - died in child care for reasons other than existing illnesses."

"Many babies die from suffocation, not SIDS, study shows"

~"Coroners who carefully follow federal guidelines while probing the 4,000 unexpected infant deaths nationally each year are discovering a hard truth. Most of these babies are suffocating in completely avoidable accidents, a nine-month investigation by Scripps Howard News Service has found."

We are realizing that what we once thought was SIDS ( Sudden Unexplained Infant death) is actually SUID (Sudden Unexpected Infant Death). Many people these are one in the same but they aren't. A SIDS death is when an apparently healthy infant dies and after a complete death scene investigation and autopsy no cause of death can be found. A SUID death is usually when a baby died from a preventable or explained death like an unsafe sleep environment. 

When a baby dies depending on the state and county the death occurred in, usually a coroner or death scene investigation comes to the home and takes pictures of the death scene, reviews the death scene to try to find clues to what could have caused a baby to die suddenly and unexpectedly. Some times the answers are clear and other times there is nothing to indicate a reason a baby died. It is imperative that a complete and through death scene investigation is performed. Unfortunetly, often times a death scene is not being investigated properly. Depending who completes an infants death scene and who performs the autopsy depends on what the cause of death is determined to be on an autopsy and/or death certificate. You have some professionals who do not believe in SIDS and refuses to write it on an autopsy or death certificate even if nothing points to anything else. Now, let's talk about what a SIDS death is. A baby who dies of SIDS is placed in a safe sleep environment and nothing is in the way or in their sleep space that could interfere with their breathing. What does this mean exactly? Let's discuss what a safe sleep environment looks like and what isn't considered a safe sleep environment for an infant.


Safe Sleep Environment:


A baby should be sleeping in a new and safe crib that has not been recalled. Or a pack n play. 


*Bassinettes are not recommended because they are often padded and can restrict airflow. where a crib or pack n play either has mesh sides or crib slats they accommodate for good airflow to an infant.*


Parents should room share with their infant in their bedroom but NEVER share a bed with your baby or any other sleep surface. Babies who bed share are more likely to die than a baby who is placed to sleep in a crib.


Never place an infant to sleep on their stomach! Every sleep counts which means even for naps a baby should be placed on their back. 


Use a pacifier to help reduce the risk of SIDS and there is a study that says a fan can help circulate the air.


Although decorating a baby's crib looks nice it is not needed and can be deadly to an infant. Decorate their nursery but not their sleep safe. This means nothing in the crib except for a fitted sheet. No blankets, bumper pads, sleep positioners, toys/stuffed animals, as all of these have been linked to suffocation.


Use a Halo Sleep sack to keep the baby warm, or dress baby warmly in the colder months but prevent overheating. Dress your baby as you would dress yourself.

Unsafe Sleep Environment:

For more information on how to create a beautiful nursery without decorating the crib please visit:A face book page dedicated on keeping babies sleeping safely from the CJ Foundation of SIDS.


Sleep in safety,  grow in style

"Saving babies: Exposing sudden infant death in America"

This is a study from Scripps on infant deaths dating as far back as 1992. We are finding that many of the deaths that were once classified as SIDS an unpreventable and mysterious death, face book group PAUSE (Parents Against Unsafe Sleep Environments) was created to give parents and caregivers information they otherwise would not receive.


"In fact, we are getting further away from solving the mystery of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome because of sloppy procedures, manipulation of statistics, misguided efforts to protect the feelings of grieving parents, and deliberate attempts to make SIDS go away, at least on paper.

The Scripps review of 40,000 infant deaths going back to 1992 revealed that the quality of infant death investigations, the level of training for coroners, and the amount of oversight and review vary enormously across the country. In many cases, professional bias -- both for and against a diagnosis of SIDS -- trumps medical evidence.

As a result, the odds that an infant's death will be correctly diagnosed are often determined by geography rather than science. In other words, the same death might be called SIDS in one county and called something else just down the road."

"There's no rhyme or reason to what medical examiners are diagnosing as SIDS, suffocation, strangulation or undetermined," said Theresa Covington, director of the National Center for Child Death Review Policy and Practice at the University of Michigan. "The variability is across the country and within the states."

"If we had a standard approach to investigating and classifying these deaths, our approach to prevention and research could be a lot clearer," said Dr. James Kemp, a leading SIDS researcher at St. Louis University. "The whole reason for keeping count is to figure out how to avoid the next infant death."

Scripps conducted an extensive study into how infant deaths are investigated in the United States using records provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The records detail the sudden deaths of 40,239 infants, half of whom died in the 1990s and the rest in a five-year period from 2000 to 2004.

The records of the most recent infant deaths, from 2000 to 2004, can be examined in the first searchable database of its kind at www.scrippsnews.com/sids/database.

The review found enormous variation in how the deaths of infants are investigated and classified. The SIDS rate, according to the data, is 12 times higher in Mississippi than in New York. Most experts agree that the big differences are caused by how the deaths are classified, not by how the babies died.

Variations are sometimes even greater from county to county within a state because coroners take widely different approaches to how they determine the cause of infant deaths in their areas.

Federal records show a dramatic decline in reported cases of SIDS, dropping from 4,895 cases in 1992 to only 2,247 in 2004, the most recent year for which complete data is available.

The records examined by Scripps showed that cases of SIDS virtually disappeared in some states and cities over the last several years, but closer examination of the data makes it evident that thousands of those lives have not been "saved," but rather lost under another name.

Coroners and medical examiners said SIDS was responsible for nearly 80 percent of all sudden infant deaths 15 years ago and only 55 percent in 2004. What increased during this time were diagnoses that CDC statisticians labeled as "threats to breathing" and "other ill-defined causes of mortality."

Some researchers think that this "code shifting" of infant death causes has substantially overstated the success of public health efforts against SIDS. The diagnosis of SIDS has been replaced on death certificates by new and vague terms like "undetermined cause," "sudden and unexplained death" and "other ill-defined and unknown causes of mortality."

The result is that, while deaths attributed to SIDS are down, the overall number of sudden infant deaths has remained steady, and even ticked up in some years, since 2000.

Among the other findings of the Scripps investigation:

-- In some states and counties, investigators are told not to issue a SIDS diagnosis if any other cause is suspected, causing the rate at which the syndrome is reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to plummet to just a fraction of the national average. Several large metro areas reported no SIDS cases during the five-year period even though there were dozens of sudden infant deaths.

-- Other jurisdictions offer extra pay to coroners who fill out complex medical forms detailing the circumstances of sudden unexplained infant deaths. Some have reported as much as a 55 percent increase in SIDS deaths since the incentives began.

-- The variance in diagnoses can be equally great within the same state, so that one county is diagnosing SIDS at three or even four times the rate of its neighboring counties.

-- States with local and state boards assigned to review the evidence in mysterious infant deaths are three times more likely to identify children who have died from suffocation or smothering than do states with little or no oversight in child deaths.

-- The 28 states that have statewide medical examiners are more likely to diagnose SIDS deaths than the 22 states without a top medical examiner.

-- States that mostly rely upon appointed, well-trained medical examiners to investigate infant deaths issue 10 percent more SIDS diagnoses than states that elect often less-well-trained coroners, many of whom are not required to have college degrees.

-- Coroners, who generally are not required to be doctors or even have any medical background, were 37 percent more likely than medical examiners to issue a diagnosis of "undetermined causes" on the death certificates of infants.

Also I want to leave you with something that Deborah Robinson said. She is a death scene investigator in Seattle, Washington.

"I've been reading some of the posts regarding SIDS, Suffocation, Overlay and what they can and cant tell from the autopsy. Rarely can the distinction be made purely by the autopsy. It is critical that the coroner or medical examiner take into consideration the entire death scene when making their certification. Some mechanical suffocation such as wedging can be identified but for the most part, the autopsy is benign, which is why so many question regarding how your baby was placed and how your baby was found are asked. I'm not sure everyone also understands the difference between a Medical Examiner and Coroner. ME is a forensic pathologist who is board certified. A coroner is an elected official. In our state which is similar to most, the only requirement to be a coroner is to be over the age of 18, a resident of the county you are running in and pay your filing fee. They typically will contract with someone to perform an autopsy if warranted."




Every person needs to take a stand and educate yourselves on how to create a safe sleep environment, and pass on this information to anyone who has or cares for infants. Imagine if everyone was not only educated and practiced these guidelines how the number of infant deaths would dramatically decrease. I would also like to note that SIDS is a real problem and diagnose but too often babies are dying from a preventable death and the parents are not being told. This isn't SIDS vs. SUID it is about reducing the numbers of all infant deaths regardless of the cause. if you have any questions please feel free to comment or contact me directly at pausesafesleep@gmail.com

Bed Sharing: What Dr.McKenna and Dr.Sears Fail To Tell You......

A mother and baby bed sharing together in bed is picture perfect isn't it? Seeing a picture of a mommy snuggled with her baby is sweet and they look so cozy don't they? What could be more innocent and good for the your baby? You are in bed with your baby sleeping in the crook of your arm and when he or she wakes up you feed them as you both drift off to dreamland. You get the sleep you so desperately need and your baby gets more sleep too right?

Now imagine this. You and your baby are bed sharing just as Dr.McKenna and Dr.Sears tell you to do. You do not smoke, don't do drugs, and haven't consumed alcohol. You are not over weight and are bed sharing because it promotes breast feeding and have been told it helps reduce the risk of SIDS. You would never roll over on your baby you know he/she is there. You follow every safe bed sharing guideline and then one morning you wake up to a silent baby. For some reason your baby didn't cry to wake you up like they do every other time. You look over and your baby is face down under a blanket or pillow, you are found on top of your baby, or your baby is lying silently and you realize in horror your baby is not breathing. You frantically call 9-1-1 and the paramedics rush to save your baby but it is too late...your baby died sometime in the night...right next to you.

Facts about bed sharing:

80% of babies that die from SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) or SUID (Sudden Unexplained Infant Death) are placed in unsafe sleeping environments included but not limited to: bed sharing, baby found on a couch, or another soft sleeping surface, a baby found in crib with bumper pads, blankets, over heated by too many clothes on to keep the baby warm.

When you bed share a baby has a 40 times greater chance of not waking up in the morning

Dr.Sears advises bed sharing because it worked for him and his wife not based on any studies or scientific studies

Dr.McKenna claims bed sharing reduce the risk of SIDS but Dr. James McKenna is an anthropologist who studies mothers and babies sleeping together in a laboratory he does not study bed sharing in a family's natural environment.

Did you know bed sharing INCREASES the risk of SIDS by putting a baby in an unsafe sleeping environment.

We have no way of knowing which babies at birth are vulnerable to SIDS and we can't control any aspect of the critical development period (2-4 months of age), but parents to a great extent, can control the stressful environment factor by following safe sleep guidelines. Research suggests that all three elements (unknown vulnerability, critical development period, and stressful environment) combine to induce a SIDS death. The data from the CDC and Child Death Review Boards across the country unequivocally show that 8 out of 10 babies who die in their sleep are in unsafe sleeping environments.

Although in the media it shows babies dying from bed sharing when parents are drunk or under the influence of drugs, most bed sharing deaths are of parents who did everything right and were not under the influence.

McKenna will tell you bed sharing deaths are attributed to parents who feed their babies formula. Regardless whether you breastfeed or formula feed neither will protect a baby from suffocating.

Last year in Texas, Child Protective Services investigated 177 infant deaths where bed-sharing (also known as co-sleeping) was a factor, although the exact causes of most of those deaths are not known.

Bed sharing was associated with 2 times greater risk of SIDS compared with not bed sharing.

Nakamura et al. (CPSC, 1999) described 515 deaths of children younger than two years who were sleeping in adult beds.  Of these deaths, 121 were reported to be due to overlying of the child by a parent, other adult, or sibling, while 394 were due to entrapment in the bed structure.   A criticism of this study has been that the relative risk for bed sharing is unknown because we have not researched the number of families actually practicing bed sharing.  In an April 2001 presentation given at the National SIDS Alliance annual conference in Chicago, N.J. Sheers of the CPSC, working with Marian Willinger (epidemiologist from NICHD and member of AAP task force on Infant Sleep Position) presented the denominators and calculated rates.  According to their study, the risk of infant death for an infant alone in a crib is 1.32 per 100,000, while the risk of death for an infant in an adult bed is 30.0 per 100,000, a 23-fold increase.   We firmly believe that one infant death due to a completely preventable cause is one too many.  A greater than 20 fold increase in the risk for death is simply too great to ignore.

Rethink Your Position

Now would you chance bringing your baby into bed with you knowing the facts now?

                         Creating a Safe Sleep Environment for your Baby:

Every infant deserves to have the safest environment possible and that includes when babies sleep. Where the newest and probably the cutest member of your family sleeps is one of the most important decisions parents can make.

There are so many different options of where your baby sleeps some parents bed share (where an infant sleeps in bed with you and/or with your partner) Although many people still practice bed sharing, and pro bed sharers claim that it promotes breastfeeding and bonding with your baby there is a much safer way. Is it called crib sleeping, and is when your baby is placed in a crib. With crib sleeping you do not have to worry about accidental suffocation, layover, entrapment, and both you and baby will get a more sound sleep knowing you are both sleeping safely.

I will share with you the guidelines for creating a safe sleep environment for infants that is recommend by the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics), the NICHD (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development), and the CPSC(Consumer Product Safety Commission), along with First Candle, and The American SIDS Institute.


•Always place your baby to sleep on his/her back at nap time and bedtime. Do promote tummy time while your baby is awake & under supervision.

•Use a pacifier to help reduce the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) use after a month if breastfeeding so the infant does not have nipple confusion.

•Do not use blankets, not even light weight receiving blankets! Instead use a Halo Sleep Sack. Blankets can suffocate a baby if the blanket it is near their face which can happen when babies move while sleeping. A Halo Sleep Sack prevents this from happening but keeps the baby warm just like a blanket would.

•Do not overly dress your baby in the winter months. Over heating has been linked to SIDS. Dress the baby as you would dress yourself.

•Never share a bed, couch, or any other sleeping surface with your baby. When bed sharing accidents can and do happen. The baby could accidentally suffocate, become entrapped between the bed and wall, or a parent, child, even an animal could roll on top of the baby causing the baby to stop breathing. More than 64 babies die a year to bed sharing deaths.

•Do room share. Place your infant’s bassinet, portable crib, or crib in the same room as you. You can still hear your baby, wake up when it’s hungry, and still keep the baby safe. Studies have shown that room sharing is recommended for the first six months of life to help reduce the risk of SIDS.

•A new study has found that having a fan while your baby is sleeping can also help reduce the risk of SIDS by recirculating the air that your baby breathes.

•Do not smoke during or after pregnancy. Even if you do not smoke inside the smoke still lingers on your clothes and even in your hair. Please get help to quit smoking to keep you healthy and to give your baby a better start at life.

•When you put your baby to sleep in his/her own crib make sure there are no stuff animals, toys of any kind, bumper pads, or blankets. The safest way for crib sleep contains baby & a fitted sheet. Nothing else should be in the crib that could cause a suffocation risk.

•Never bed share but especially if you smoke, drink alcohol, take prescribed or non prescription drugs, are overly tired, or over weight.

•Also educate others on safe sleep practices…. Especially anyone caring for your infant!

If you follow these simple guidelines it could save your baby’s life. All babies should have the chance to grow up.

Resources:

http://www.firstcandle.org/

http://www.sids.org/

http://www.cpsc.gov/

http://www.nichd.nih.gov/

http://www.aap.org/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Parents-Against-Co-Sleeping/107296279313586

http://www.halosleepsack.com/