Medically Reviewed by Douglas M. Moeckel, MD
News surrounding infant deaths in South Carolina is both good and bad. The infant mortality rate in South Carolina saw a slight increase early in this century. However, it was a “substantial increase” in sleep-related deaths that pushed the rate up.
“Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), which is feared by parents, was not the primary cause of the rise in infant deaths,” says McLeod Neonatologist Douglas Moeckel, MD. “According to state officials, suffocation and strangulation while sleeping accounted for nearly all these accidents. Most of these sad incidents can be prevented by following some simple safe sleep practices.”
The easiest way to remember what to do is to follow the ABCs of Safe Sleep.
Or you can follow a short list of Do’s and Don’ts compiled by Charlie’s Kids Foundation, formed after 3-week-old Charlie Hanke died while sleeping on the couch with his dad in 2010.
For your own list of DO’s and DON’Ts to post on the refrigerator or in your baby’s bedroom, click here.
For those of you who would like an easy-to-read, easy-to understand resource (even for young children), you can order the “Good Night Moon”-type illustrated book Sleep Baby Safe and Snug written by a pediatrician. Click here to order from Amazon.
Sources include: McLeod Health, SC Department of Health and Environmental Control, March of Dimes, Charlie’s Kids Foundation, Healthy Children Foundation