Sleeping with baby is top cause of accidental death in Texas
Letting your infant sleep in your bed helps promote bonding, but a grim new report reveals that it also can be life-threatening. Nearly every other night in Texas, where the data was collected, a young child dies while sleeping with a parent or older sibling.
Texas Child Protective Services began researching the deaths last year after hearing isolated reports from caseworkers. It tallied 170 cases in a 12-month span, according to a report in the Houston Chronicle. While the agency declined to give exact causes of deaths, it acknowledged the primary risk for the child is suffocation. More than half the cases involved children younger than three months.
The Chronicle passed along some advice from protective services personnel to help minimize the risk:
– Don’t dull the senses by drinking alcohol or taking prescription drugs before sleeping in the same bed with a child.
– Avoid any soft bedding, loose bed pillows, loose throw pillows, blankets, or similar items which could impede a child’s breathing.
– Never sleep with a small child on a couch, waterbed or in a chair or recliner.
Photo by Kazze
This is pretty spurious reporting. You mention the cause of death in these 170 cases is not given and then go on to make a general statement about suffocation being a danger. I’m sorry, but that’s not a rational argument. Please provide stronger research and background if you plan on publishing a story like this.
Thanks.
AP