October is Sudden Infant Death Awareness Month

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (NC34) — Local safe sleep advocates are renewing their efforts to convince parents to follow proper safety measures when putting their babies to bed.

October is Sudden Infant Death Awareness Month, and the Mothers and Babies Perinatal Network in Broome County is offering important advice to new parents.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, is when a child dies in his or her sleep from unknown causes.

SIDS can often come from an infant sleeping in a situation that Mothers and Babies says can cause them to suffocate.

It says babies shouldn’t be sleeping with blankets, pillows, bumpers toys in the crib.

Infants should also sleep on their back and should never sleep with adults, whether in a bed, armchair or couch.

Community Health Director Rachel Leri says she used a sleep sack for her daughter, which dramatically reduced the risk for SIDS.

“I had already worked here before I had her, so I did know about SIDS and the risk. As a new mom, I was still very worried. You hear about SIDS and it’s scary. You think ‘you know, there’s nothing you can do’. But like I said, there are those risk factors that we can reduce, that we can eliminate,” says Leri.

Leri says a sleep sack can keep a child warm during the cold months ahead.