Safely Lay Me Down To Sleep

In an effort to reduce the risk of SIDS and Accidental Suffocation during infant sleep the American Academy of Pediatrics has specific recommendations for parents and to follow when putting an infant to sleep. I was wondering how many parents are aware of these practices and follow them?  Marion County's Success By 6 Initiative of the Early Learning Coaltion and in partnership with the United Way, provides educational information and training on this issue, free of charge, to parents, caregivers, and interested individuals. However, we recently learned that these efforts in our community need to be heightened and broadened due to recent 2010 Marion County Infant Death statistics.  Fortunately there were 0 deaths last year defined as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome!! However, in 2010 five healthy Marion County infants were put to sleep and never woke up due to accidental suffocation in an unsafe sleep environment compared to 1 infant suffocation death (during co-sleeping) the previous year. My heart goes out to these babies who will never take their first step, and to the parents who will never be able to hear their child say their first words.  These deaths were unintentional and very preventable..educaction and awareness is the key to preventing these trajedies!!

My own children are pre-teens now but I will be the first to admit that I did not follow the safe sleep guidelines because I was not aware of them, had never heard of SIDS or infants suffocating in their sleep and would have never have guessed how easy it is for an infant to suffocate in their sleep. Like many parents, I did not follow the safe sleep guidelines because I was simply unaware of them.  Some things we think are common sense, in reality, really arent!! 

It truly only takes a minute for a baby to become wedged between couch cushions or covered up by a pillow or comforter in an adult bed or to become entrapped in their own crib beween a crib bumper and a stuffed animal or blanket and it happens more than we realize right here in our own community.

 Please post a comment if you are interested in more informtation, have information of your own to share, or would like to learn how you can help our community become more aware of this issue. Let's propose a goal for 2011!! 

 No more infant suffocation deaths, such a preventable tragedy with a simple resolution: Education and Awareness! As a community we need to help eachother to help all our babies.