By Mary Drier
Staff Writer
CARO — Three infants younger than six months have died in about a month, prompting officials to issue “back to sleep” notices. Investigations are in progress.
Within a five-week period, a four-month old baby died on Christmas Day, an eight-month old girl died Jan. 27, and last week a five-month old boy died, said Tuscola County Detective Sgt. Scott Jones who is conducting the investigations.
“One of the cases happened at a day care center in the county,” he said noting the cases “are not related.”
Autopsies were performed. The results are pending.
“Because these are still active cases and it will take about a month to get the the autopsy findings back, I cannot comment more,” said Jones.
Although Jones could not elaborated on the cases, he did say a possible cause for the deaths could be “unsafe sleep” procedures.
“It’s is an unfortunate set of circumstances,” he said.
The “back is best” promotion says that babies should be placed in their cribs lying on their backs — not on their stomach or side.
“All circumstances are being examined; each case is being independently examined,” said Tuscola County Prosecutor Mark Reene. “Infants are vulnerable. When caring for them, common sense and the best practices need to be used in their care.
“We are looking at all circumstances to make sure all of the facts are understood in proceeding on this.”
Reene also stressed the use of the “back to sleep” method of placing infants on their back.
“The (worrying) thing about these cases is the number of them in such a short time…,” said Reene. “Following the best practices in caring for these vulnerable human beings falls to adults.”
Besides stressing putting babies in their cribs on their backs, health care officials have other advice:
• To keep babies safe, parents and caregivers should never put a baby in bed with adults or other children, as this practice exponentially increases the chance of a tragedy occurring. Put babies in cribs of their own, never on adult beds, pillows or couches.
• Ensure that the crib does not contain extraneous items like pillows, crib bumpers and stuffed animals, and use a sleep sack instead of blankets.
About 140-150 infants in Michigan die each year from unsafe sleep practices, which are preventable. So last year the Michigan Departments of Human Services (DHS) and Community Health (MDCH) joined together to raise awareness among new parents about the dangers of unsafe sleep practices.
Through that effort, a law was passed in May 2014, requiring hospitals and health professionals to provide parents with information and educational materials regarding infant safe sleep practices following the birth of a child. The materials must also explain the risks associated with unsafe sleep environments.
In addition, the new law requires the MDCH and DHS to work with other state and local governmental agencies, community organizations, non-profits, and other health care and human services providers to maximize resources and expand the scope of education regarding the risks associated with unsafe sleep and emphasize the importance of proper and best infant safe sleep practices.
Some of the deaths due to unsafe sleep environments may previously have been categorized as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), and they were believed to be unpreventable. However, advancements in investigations and a greater understanding of infant physiology, indicate some of these deaths are due to suffocation as a result of unsafe sleep environments and, as such, and were preventable. Such deaths are now referred to as Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID).