Officials warn against sharing bed with infants after 4-month-old's death

~ The Cape Girardeau Child Fatality Review Team looked into the February death of the child.

The death of a 4-month-old baby for no apparent reason led Friday to a warning for parents -- don't sleep in the same bed with an infant.

The Cape Girardeau Child Fatality Review Team investigated the February death of the infant, reviewing autopsy reports, police records and the coroner's report and was unable to reach a conclusion about the death, Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said.

The records showed that the baby was under the care of grandparents at the time of its death. The grandmother, who laid the the infant in a queen-sized bed about 7 p.m., slept in the same bed with the child, a prepared statement issued by Swingle said. The grandmother awoke about 5 a.m. and the baby was not breathing, the statement said.

"The autopsy could not rule out the possibility that the grandmother might have rolled over on top of the child during her sleep, but whether sleeping in the same bed with the child was the actual cause of death is unknown," the statement read.

The autopsy was inconclusive, Swingle said in an interview. If the grandmother had not been in the bed, the autopsy would likely have said the cause was Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, he said.

The warning was issued because the review team concluded that the grandmother could not be prosecuted for gross negligence in the child's death because there weren't sufficient public warnings against sleeping in the same bed as a child, Swingle said.

"They didn't feel it was such common knowledge that it would be gross negligence to support a criminal charge," Swingle said. "We wanted to warn the public that this is a risk."

The review team is activated any time a child younger than 17 dies in an unexplained manner. Swingle is chairman of the panel, which brings law enforcement, medical professionals and social workers together to study the death in an effort to develop strategies for preventing such deaths.

For children younger than 1 year, an unexplained death triggers an autopsy and review.

The warning is aimed at parents, who can explain to babysitters and others that children need to have their own separate sleeping space, said Jane Wernsman of the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center.

"I personally don't know of any injuries" sustained by infants sleeping in the same bed with adults, "but it is not a reportable type incident unless it does result in a fatality," Wernsman said.

The health center includes warnings against sharing beds with babies in its rural health clinic classes for expectant and new mothers, she said.

The Women, Infants and Children nutrition program also conducts monthly workshops for new mothers and the warning can be included in the training provided, Wernsman said.

New mothers also need to be vigilant not to fall asleep while nursing, Swingle said.

The idea of sleeping with an infant may sound cozy but it should be avoided, said Dr. Richard Flaksman, medical director of Southeast Hospital's Neonatalogy Services Department. "These are tragedies that can be avoided with proper education."

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126