ByteVibes

After a hospital in Texas reported 30 infant deaths linked to unsafe sleeping conditions from January of last year until early this month, health experts are urging parents to be extra cautious regarding how and where their babies sleep.

Blankets, toys and stuffed animals in the sleeping environment can put babies at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and suffocation, according to experts. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said about 3,400 sleep-related infant deaths occur each year in the United States.

In each instance in Texas, by the time the infants arrived at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth, the babies were in cardiac arrest or respiratory failure, the hospital reported this month. In many of the cases, the infant was co-sleeping with a parent or caregiver, who woke up to find the child unresponsive.

"Deaths linked to unsafe sleep practices occur across the U.S. and impact people of all socioeconomic classes, races and ethnicities, Cook Children's Nurse Practitioner Candle Johnson, told Newsweek via email. Johnson, who is also a mom, said the hospital recently switched to a new records system, which allows staff to track infant deaths and distinguish between SIDS, sudden unexplained infant death syndrome (SUIDS) and unsafe sleep.

Cook Children's trauma records show a variety of circumstances that led to the alarming number of infant deaths, including babies placed on a pillow with a propped bottle, in the crib with a blanket or pillow, on a recliner or couch next to a sleeping adult, or wearing a loose shirt that covered the baby's face.

"We know these parents are not intending to hurt their babies, but they need to know the risk," Johnson said. "This is a very preventable thing. As parents, our goal is to keep our children safe. As medical professionals and parents, we know firsthand how difficult that first year of life is with lack of sleep. Taking that extra step of placing your child in a safe sleeping environment can reassure you of your child's safety."

Most experts advise the ABCs of safe sleep: Alone, on their Back, in a Crib (flat, firm secure surface). Devices like baby loungers and swings are not recommended for safe sleep. However, others promote "breast-sleeping," where a breastfeeding mother and her baby sleep in a specific position together rather than on separate sleep surfaces.

All five of the experts interviewed by Newsweek agree on several key factors: smoke and secondhand smoke should be avoided, as they are known factors in increasing the risk of SIDS; breastfeeding plays a crucial role in reducing infant death; and babies should sleep in the same room as their moms while flat on their backs on a hard surface that's free of blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, other children and pets.

Three-month-old Ronin died in his parents' bed, his mother shared in an emotional video. Ronin went down for a nap on his side but somehow wiggled onto his back and pushed himself into a pillow. His cause of death was determined to be suffocation, his mom said.

Michael Goodstein, neonatologist of the American Academy of Pediatrics' (AAP) Taskforce on SIDS, said he's disheartened by the CDC's reported 3,400 annual sleep-related infant deaths in the U.S.

"That comes up for one baby dying every three or four hours of every day of the year, so it's quite the national tragedy and our rates are much higher than other industrialized countries," Goodstein told Newsweek in an interview Monday.

He said these numbers have remained stagnant since the early 2000s when the number of SIDS deaths decreased by more than 50 percent after the back-to-sleep campaign was introduced, Goodstein said, adding that the AAP updated their recommendations on safe sleep just last year. He advises all parents to take a look.

"It is a very controversial area, and everybody's got an opinion about it, but we did a very extensive review of all the literature on bed-sharing and the conclusion from the data that we've reached is that we do not recommend bed-sharing under any circumstances."

While bed-sharing, a baby sleeping on the same surface as an adult, sparks controversy among mom groups and experts, James J. McKenna, Ph.D., professor of biological anthropology and director of Mother-Baby Sleep Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame, has not only studied it for years, but also promotes it. McKenna, who coined the term "breastsleeping," offers moms tips on how to safely co-sleep with a baby.

More than 60 percent of parents in the U.S. said they bed-share or co-sleep with their babies, according to the CDC. McKenna said parents shouldn't feel ashamed of their choices, especially when they can be beneficial to a baby's well-being. Through his work at the sleep lab, McKenna said he has firsthand experience on the topic, adding that as many as 80 percent of moms can safely sleep with their babies.

"A mother can certainly sleep safely with her baby," McKenna told Newsweek in an interview Monday. "So you shouldn't have women feeling guilty about it or thinking they're doing something bad when they're not at all. It's just robbing them of what they should be feeling when they're really doing something very special for their babies."

Bed-sharing isn't the issue, it's the lack of awareness and support for many new parents, asserted Madison Hendry, a certified doula, breastfeeding educator and soon-to-be mother of four. Hendry, an advocate for skin-to-skin contact between mothers and their babies, says bed-sharing can be done safely, with precautions.

"With sober breastfeeding moms without any risk factors like smoking or taking medication, SIDS and suffocation deaths are not happening with those mothers," Hendry told Newsweek on Saturday, adding that mothers who breastfeed have a biological awareness of their baby that bottle-feeding mothers do not.

Another huge risk factor for SIDS is having the baby sleep in a separate room, because they're not co-regulated with anybody, Hendry said. "The mother's heart rate and breathing pattern is regulating the baby's."

Hendry and other experts, including the AAP, recommend babies stay in their parents' rooms until they are at least a year old.

"You don't just want baby in the room though, you want to be in sensory range or arm's length, Hendry added.

Update 04/22/23 4:43 p.m. ET: The photo cutline was updated to reflect that the image shows unsafe sleep practices.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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