MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) - Officials in a central Indiana county hope parents will recognize the dangers of co-sleeping after four healthy infants died this year.
The Star Press reports (http://tspne.ws/y7iFsX) the infants died because of co-sleeping - when parents share the same sleeping space as their children. It can lead to suffocation if a child is accidentally pinned beneath a parent who rolled over in his or her sleep or gets wedged between cushions or a wall.
Delaware County Coroner Scott Hahn said in those instances, the infant has only two or three minutes before the situation becomes fatal.
"It's just horrible," Hahn said. "It's truly an accident. Nobody sets out to do it."
Though the deaths may be accidental, they're still preventable. Delaware County Prosecutor Jeffrey Arnold said he's willing to pursue felony charges of neglect for parents and caretakers who co-sleep.
"Definitely if someone was intoxicated or under the influence of drugs, coupled with co-sleeping, I would consider that blatant negligence," Arnold said.
Some studies have shown co-sleeping can increase bonding between parents and children. Wendy Goldberg and Meret Keller, psychology professors at the University of California, Irvine, wrote in 2007 that co-sleeping promotes breast-feeding and bonding between parents and children.
Stephanie Henry, an emergency-room nurse practitioner at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie, has been in the emergency room when two of the four co-sleeping-related deaths have come in this year. She said talking to the families after the infants were declared dead was devastating.
"It's guilt, hysterical," Henry said. "The look on someone's face when you tell them that it was because they were sleeping with them, it's just devastating to a family."
New parents receive warnings about the dangers of co-sleeping before they leave the hospital, said Donna Wilkins, a health officer at the Delaware County Health Department, but some mothers even fall asleep with their newborns in the hospital bed.
"The mother would've had no intention of falling asleep with the baby right there," Wilkins said. "But if you think you're getting sleepy, just put the baby back in its bed."
Henry said there is no reason for parents to sleep in the same bed as their infant.
"It's just never recommended," Henry said. "You think you're going to wake up. You think you'll hear them. You don't think you'll sleep that sound. You think you'll notice if you roll over. You just don't, though, and it should never be done."
Information from: The Star Press, http://www.thestarpress.com