New Mothers Should Know About Danger In Co-Sleeping With Infants

Co-Sleeping With Infants

The image of a parent and a baby dozing off together in the parent's bed isn't an uncommon one. It's a warm gesture and seems the natural thing to do, particularly on a cold winter's night. But is it safe?

It's called co-sleeping. And according to child welfare and public health officials, infant-related deaths due to co-sleeping - where an adult rolls over on the infant and accidentally suffocates them - are no longer viewed as tragic anomalies. Infants who sleep in the same bed as an adult are more likely to suffer injury, even death. In Georgia, co-sleeping is a leading cause of sleep-related infant deaths, and is the leading cause of deaths of infants three to four months old. The Department of Human Resources' Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) has launched a public awareness campaign on the dangers of co-sleeping with its front line workers, those who are in constant, direct contact with mothers and their newborns.

"These are preventable deaths," said Mary Dean Harvey, director of the Division of Family and Children Services. "What we're seeing in the state's child fatality reports is, where the child sleeps is critical to infant safety and we want to draw attention to this potentially deadly problem and educate our case managers statewide to the dangers of unsafe sleeping practices so that they, in turn, can share their knowledge with new parents."

According to the most recent (2004) Georgia Child Fatality Review Panel Report, which tracks all deaths of children, 25 children died as a result of asphyxia or suffocation. Of those, 16 were infant, co-sleeping related deaths. Of those 16, six of the infants were sleeping with one other person, and 10 were sleeping with more than one other person. The most common ages at death were 3 months and 4 months. The hazard of co-sleeping related deaths has been reported to be greater in infants less than 5 months old, but health officials say these deaths may occur in children up to 2 years old. Harvey says DFCS' statewide awareness campaign includes surveys, which are currently under way, with front line workers to gauge their awareness of the issue, and a tool kit of published materials including posters, bookmarks and fact sheets. "One co-sleeping infant death is one too many," she said.