Apparent Infant Co-Sleeping Death Brings Calls for Cribs
The death of three-month-old Kymarius Hunt happened because, apparently, his grandmother, Patricia Quinn, was co-sleeping with him and somehow got on top of him.
Reportedly, the family did not have a crib on site.
Milwaukee Health Commissioner Bevan Baker not only told 620WTMJ's "Wisconsin's Morning News" about the critical importance of having an infant sleep in a crib, but he explained how the city often gives cribs to people in emergencies.
"Here in the City of Milwaukee, we distribute hundreds of pack-and-play cribs every year to parents in need," said Baker.
"We partner with the Milwaukee Fire Department. We find calls where they're in homes and they find a baby with no crib, they have cribs on the fire trucks that they hand out then and there, to make sure that there's a safe environment."
Baker is trying to remind people not to follow Quinn's behavior and take the chances that happen when you sleep with an infant child.
It's not uncommon to find parents that will do such a thing, and some groups even advocate the behavior.
"There's a lot of debate across the city and across the community on 'Is it safe?' " said Baker.
"What we've decided, and what our official position is at the health department, is that we can't advise or promote that there's co-sleeping occurring when there's an infant in the house.
"The American Academy of Pediatrics, in 2005, included that the safest place for babies was to sleep on their back in their own crib or bassinet, without pillows and things within that bassinet or crib. We've taken that research, that advice and that knowledge and we're saying that we can't promote or advise (sleeping with an infant).
"We know many parents that did it. Many parents have had successful outcomes. We've had 38 babies die in 2009, and we've had three of them die from co-sleeping.
"We have to be smart about this."
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