GBI Child Fatality Review Unit urges “Safe Sleep” for Infants

As parents, it is very tempting to want to place your infant in your bed so you can comfort them and feel “safe” while they sleep. Georgia Child Fatality Review urges parents to resist this temptation. Regardless of warnings, last year more than 100 infants died in Georgia as a result of co-sleeping with their parents or being placed in other unsafe sleep environments. According to the CDC, in the US in 2017, there were approximately 900 deaths of infants due to accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed. In March of 2019, investigators around the state responded to 13 cases of “sleep related” deaths of infants in Georgia.  Remember the ABC’s of Safe Sleep; Alone, babies should sleep alone in their own sleep space, close but separate from their caregiver; Back, babies should be placed on their back to sleep. Every sleep. Every nap. Every time; Crib, babies should sleep in a crib or bassinet with a firm, flat surface with no extra items such as blankets or toys. Public awareness of sleep-related infant deaths in the state of Georgia is critical to preventing these deaths. The burden of death to infants in Georgia is not primarily related to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), which many view as unpreventable, but is attributable to Sudden Unexplained Infant Death (SUID) and other sleep-related deaths which are highly preventable.  Annually over 100 infant deaths per year are categorized as “sleep-related.” It is critical that parents and caregivers be empowered with the knowledge and education of simple, yet effective, prevention steps as well as the understanding of the true risk for infant death.