The Key

Baby Deaths Rise from Babies Sleeping with Adults

Meekel T. McCleave was eight weeks old when he died on May 17. He slept with his mother in her bed. She did not have a crib for Meekel. She always slept with her children.

Another baby boy died on April 19. Tyler Winston’s mother had a bassinet in her bedroom. Yet she laid Tyler to sleep on her bed that night. He lay on his back, but his head was on an adult pillow. When his mother woke up, Tyler was belly down. He was not breathing. He was two months old.

A baby girl died on March 8. Cieanna Buchanan’s mother went to a party the night before. She got drunk, she told police. Cieanna slept on a couch with her sister. Her mother was not sure, but she could also have slept on the couch with her children. Cieanna was not breathing in the morning. She was six days old.

These are three of the five babies who died since early March in Milwaukee while they slept with adults. Authorities stated that two died from suffocation.

120 Milwaukee babies died in unsafe sleep
The Milwaukee Health Department started a sleep awareness campaign in April because of these deaths. About 120 Milwaukee babies died in unsafe sleep situations from 2004 to 2007. Seventy-two of these babies slept in a bed with parents, other children or a caregiver.

Anna Benton is the director of family and health services for the health department. She said that parents love their babies and sleep with them. Yet this makes a dangerous situation. Co-sleeping increases the chance of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

SIDS is the sudden death of a baby, according to Wikipedia. The cause of death cannot be explained. The baby seemed healthy before it died.

“We take the position of the American Academy of Pediatrics,” Benton said. “They think bed sharing is an extremely bad idea.”

The Health Department started a Web site as part of the campaign. This lists practices of safe sleeping for babies. The Web address is http://www.milwaukee.gov/safesleep.

Safety tips for sleeping babies
The Web site states that parents should do the following:

Give babies a separate place to sleep. Yet the place should be close, like in the same room. SIDS happens less often when a baby sleeps in the same room with the mother.
Put a baby to sleep in a crib, bassinet or cradle, never on a couch or chair. Make sure the crib meets safety standards.
Have only a mattress with a tightly fitting sheet in a crib. Do not put pillows, blankets, bumper pads or toys in the crib.
Dress babies in a warm, one-piece sleeper in winter.
Put babies to sleep on their backs.
Keep the room temperature comfortable for the whole family and not too warm.
Never smoke in a house where a baby or child lives.

The Health Department also posted a short movie of safe sleeping practices on YouTube.

The city Web site gives more information from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The academy found that bed-sharing is increasing. They urge mothers to breast feed their babies. Yet infant deaths often occur when mothers fall asleep while breast feeding and roll over onto their babies. Mothers may nurse or comfort babies in bed. Yet babies should go back to their own place to sleep and when mothers are ready to go back to sleep.
The academy also warned that babies should not be in a bed with a parent if the parent is very tired, or if the parent is using medicines or substances that would make the parent less alert.

Sources: Jesse Garza. “Baby found dead in bed identified: Mother woke, found boy unresponsive.” The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 19, 2009, sec. B, pg. 3. Crocker Stephenson. “2-month-old baby dies while sharing bed: Third case in 2 months prompts city campaign.” The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 20, 2009. www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/43271902.html Crocker Stephenson. “Unsafe sleep practice suspected in baby’s death.” The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, posted March 10, 2009. www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/41004267.html, www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_infant_death_syndrome, “Safe Sleep for Your Baby” www.milwaukee.gov/safesleep