SIDS spikes in Spokane County

A spike in the number of sudden infant deaths in Spokane County has prompted the Spokane Regional Health District to remind parents that babies are safer in their own cribs or bassinets than in adult beds.

The deaths of nine babies since August have been attributed to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or “crib death,” and most of these deaths involved infants who were sharing adult beds, said Julie Graham, the health district’s public information manager.

An increase in SIDS deaths in Spokane County in the past two years comes after declines in such deaths amid public information campaigns about the dangers of infants sleeping on their stomachs, on soft mattresses or amid loose bedding.

In 2006, there were two SIDS deaths in Spokane County. There were eight last year, and this year there have already been five, Graham said.

The practice of adults and infants sharing adult beds is known as co-sleeping. While it’s common in many parts of the world, it’s controversial in the U.S.A recent letter by the Pennsylvania Child Death Review Team pointed to “infants sleeping in the same bed or on the couch with an adult or other children” as a preventable risk factor for infant death.

The letter cites recommendations by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the American Academy of Pediatrics against sharing beds.

A co-sleeping proponent, however, called for more research into the practice.

“Parents are doing it anyway,” Lysa Parker, co-founder of Attachment Parenting International, said from her home in Nashville, Tenn. “If they don’t do it safely, it presents a greater risk.”

She said her organization promotes parents’ rights, given the correct information, to decide to share their beds with their infants.

“Thousands of babies die in cribs, and we don’t call for the elimination of cribs,” Parker said.

However, Spokane public health nurse Merrylee Costello attributed the recent increase in SIDS cases nationally and locally to parents or siblings sleeping with infants.

“That’s where we have seen a really huge increase,” Costello said.

Spokane pediatrician Dr. Robert Maixner said he believes the evidence is inconclusive.

“There are studies that would say a baby’s sleeping in bed with parents is considered a risk factor for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome,” Maixner said. “But just because a baby is co-sleeping and there is a crib death, doesn’t mean the co-sleeping caused the death.”