RELEASE: April 8 , 2004

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Acting Commissioner Davy announces ‘Safe Sleep’ initiative to help prevent infant deaths

“Over the last three years, 176 babies have died in sleep-related incidents in New Jersey! This is a serious public health issue, and we are adding this Safe Baby Sleep Campaign to our prevention efforts for safeguarding New Jersey’s children,” said Department of Human Services (DHS) Acting Commissioner Jim Davy at a news conference today.

With prevention one of the major components of the DHS Child Welfare Reform Plan, Davy alerted the public today of alarming numbers of sleep-related infant deaths as he laid out the plan for educating the public to many common sense dangers for infants.

“Parents sleeping in the same beds with their children, or co-sleeping, is one of the largest contributors to sleep-related infant deaths. Our Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board (CFNFRB) has spotted these trends, and we need to change people’s behavior.”

Meeting at Millhill Child and Family Development Corporation in Trenton, Davy gathered pediatric experts from the CFNFRB to demonstrate the do’s and don’t’s for babies’ sleep environments.

During the late 1990’s, the Review Board began to see startling statistics related to sleep-related infant deaths and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, so it began to categorize the sleep environment factors in each case. Major categories emerged:

From the cases they were assigned to review from the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), the board saw increasing numbers of sleep-related deaths that could have been prevented if parents and caregivers had been better informed about safe sleep practices.

• 2000 – Total 70 deaths: Of 8 sleep-related and 62 cases of SIDS, 10 were possible overlays by an adult or another child co-sleeping; 7 were inappropriate bed or bed location; 5 were caused by face-down sleeping. In other words, at least 22 of these deaths in 2000 were in all likelihood due to unsafe sleeping practices – and, thus, might have been prevented.

• 2001 – Total 67 deaths: Of 9 sleep-related and 58 cases of SIDS, 22 were possible overlays by an adult or another child co-sleeping; 13 were inappropriate bed or bed location; 7 were due to inappropriate bedding or items near sleeping infant; and 12 were caused by face-down sleeping.In other words, in 2001, at least 54 of these deaths were in all likelihood due to unsafe sleeping practices – and, again, might have been prevented.

• 2002 – Total 39 deaths: [2002 numbers are based only on cases that forwarded for review by the Fatality Review Board, as DHSS has not completed 2002 data]. Of the 39 cases reviewed by CFNFRB of infants who died in 2002, medical examiners classified 23 as SIDS -- and ALL showed these dangerous sleep environments:

Davy also unveiled brochures in English and in Spanish, produced by the NJ Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect -- at the urging of the CFNFRB - that will go to:

Davy emphasized that if healthcare professionals, teen counselors, public and faith-based agencies reach out to new parents and caregivers to teach them about safer sleep practices, sleep-related infant deaths should decrease.

Brand-new infants, or even older infants with developmental delays, do not have the response mechanism or the muscle strength to move their heads or bodies out of harm’s way when something is blocking their air passages. They certainly are not strong enough to push themselves out from under big blanket or pillow, yet alone an adult who has fallen sound asleep and suddenly rolls over onto them while on the sofa, or even in a normal bed. Even a sleeping adult’s arm flung across baby’s face can cause suffocation in a few minutes.

Here are some rules to ensure safe sleep for babies.

Place baby to sleep on his or her back. NOT stomach. A baby should not sleep with other people, either on a bed or sofa. Once baby has gone to sleep, move him/her to their own crib or cradle. Don’t put blankets, quilts, afghans, comforters or stuffed animals into the crib where baby might scoot or roll under them and smother. Be sure there are no phone, appliance or window cords near the crib that could get tangled around baby’s head.

Make sure baby’s sleepwear does not have any strings or ties. Avoid putting baby on soft surfaces like a water bed, bean bag chair or sofa with big soft pillows. Never put two chairs together with a blanket over them to make a bed, as baby can fall down between the chairs and get smothered in the blanket. Make sure there is no way baby can roll over or slide down between the bed and a wall or the headboard, side rail or footboard of the bed.

After the demonstration of safe sleeping tips, Davy thanked Dr. Anthony D’Urso, chair of New Jersey’s Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board, and its members who identified this trend; Dr. Martin Finkel, pediatrician and chair of the New Jersey Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect, and Dr. Ernest Leva, pediatrician and vice-chairman of the Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board for demonstrating how to put a baby to bed – safely; Donna Pincavage, who heads up New Jersey’s Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect, for helping to create this outreach campaign; and Sheila Borgese, Executive Director of the American Academy of Pediatrics, New Jersey Chapter, for its support of this effort and its support of DHS efforts to improve medical screening for DYFS kids under the child welfare reform plan.

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