Opinions

DATE: February 9, 2007

Letters to the Editor
Winston-Salem Journal
[email protected]

Dear Editor,

I am concerned that the article "Infant Deaths," suggests child health workers promote safe ways for parents to sleep with their babies rather than warning against bed sharing.

Bed sharing may be a cultural practice for some, and, while I agree with being culturally sensitive, we cannot ignore that in our state three of four accidental suffocation or strangulation infant deaths are associated with bed sharing. The number has doubled since 2003. In 2005, 32 of 36 such deaths happened when a baby was sleeping with a parent or sibling in a bed, sofa, or chair.

Bed sharing also increases the risks for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) because it can cause overheating. In 2005, 52 babies died in a bed and 13 on a sofa, compared to 22 dying in a crib.

Based on data and research, the N. C. "Back to Sleep" campaign, a statewide partnership between the NC Division of Public Health and the North Carolina Healthy Start Foundation, promotes putting babies on their backs to sleep in cribs or bassinets, not in beds. While getting families with a tradition of bed sharing to change their practices may not be easy, it must be done. No family should have to suffer the heartache of losing a child from a preventable death or from SIDS.

Sincerely,

Janice Freedman, M.P.H.
Executive Director
North Carolina Healthy Start Foundation
Raleigh, North Carolina

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