Cribs, Not Beds, for Babies Says County

Public health officials in Santa Clara County urge parents and infant caregivers to be aware of unsafe sleeping practices that place infants at serious risk of death.

Infants can die from suffocation when they become trapped between cushions or have their faces pressed against soft bedding or pillows when infants sleep on adult beds, couches, sofa beds or other soft surfaces, according to the public health department.

Children younger than 12 months old should sleep on their backs, alone and in cribs or bassinets, which should be free of toys, stuffed animals, or soft bedding.

Within the last six years, 41 infants in Santa Clara County have died because of unsafe sleeping practices, according to information released Friday by the county's public health department.

In 2011, three such deaths have been confirmed, health officials said.

Most of the infants in Santa Clara County who died from unsafe sleeping practices, according to the health department, were born full term and were healthy. Almost half died while sharing a bed with an adult or older child.

Adults or older children who sleep next to a baby can easily roll over and suffocate the infant without realizing.

The health department explained that unsafe sleeping practices cause more infant deaths than Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, which is a sudden, unexplained death of a child younger than 12 months old.

In Santa Clara County, since 2005 only two baby deaths have been attributed to SIDS, they stated.

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