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 From 1999 to 2015, the suffocation death rate for babies younger
than 1 year climbed from 12.4 to 28.3 fatalities for every 1,000
U.S. infants, researchers report in Pediatrics.
In 2015 alone, this translated into 1,100 infant deaths that were
entirely preventable. The majority of these suffocation fatalities
occurred while babies were in bed.
“It may be that parents are not following `safe sleep’
recommendations to place infants in beds without stuffed animals,
soft blankets, pillows, and other items that could cause
suffocation,” said study co-author David Schwebel of the University
of Alabama at Birmingham.
“It may also be that we have dangerous items on the market and in
our homes, and they need to be removed,” Schwebel said by email.
Suffocation and strangulation deaths increased across the board for
boys and girls regardless of race, ethnicity or whether they lived
in urban or rural communities, the study found.
At least some of the increase in suffocation deaths might be due to
a change in how these fatalities are categorized, researchers note.
Some fatalities that were attributed to sleep-related causes like
sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) at the start of the study might
have been categorized as accidental suffocation and strangulation in
bed by the end of the study period.
“I think the suffocation and strangulation deaths are increasing due
to the diagnostic shift,” said Dr. Jeffrey Colvin of Children’s
Mercy Kansas City.
“There has also been an increase in bed sharing,” Colvin, who wasn’t
involved in the study, said by email.
While keeping infants in the same room but in a separate crib may
help reduce the risk of suffocation and strangulation, parents have
to consider risks that go beyond just intentional bed sharing,
Colvin said.
“It also means not accidentally falling asleep with your baby,”
Colvin advised. “It also means removing objects from the infant’s
crib or bassinet because all of the quilts, blankets, toys, and
pillows are suffocation hazards.”
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SIDS deaths are still far more common than strangulation and
suffocation fatalities and are the most common cause of
sleep-related fatalities, noted Dr. Lori Feldman-Winter, a professor
of pediatrics at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in
Camden, New Jersey.
Bed-sharing is rising the most among black and Asian American
families, and these are also populations with the highest rates of
sleep-related infant deaths, Feldman-Winter, who wasn’t involved in
the study, said by email.
“The safest place for a baby to sleep is in a crib or bassinet or
play yard in the same room with the parents, not in the same bed,”
Feldman-Winter said.
Babies are safest sleeping on their backs in their own cribs without
any pillows, toys, blankets or other loose bedding.
If babies do sleep in parents’ beds, parents should have a firm
mattress, remove soft objects such as pillows, and move the bed away
from the wall, according to guidelines from the American Academy of
Pediatrics.
Parents should also be aware that bed sharing is most dangerous for
newborns less than 4 months old, preemies and underweight infants,
or if babies were exposed to tobacco during or after pregnancy.
“They need to know that the evidence shows that sleeping in the same
bed is hazardous, and while there may be things that can be
recommended to make this sleeping arrangement safe, we don’t have
the studies or data to determine what they are,” Feldman-Winter
cautioned.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2C8Oa2j JAMA Pediatrics, online February 19,
2018.
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