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CHICAGO – Accidental choking is one of the leading causes of trauma death in US infants, and the most common scenarios involve blankets, bed sharing with parents, and other unsafe sleep practices, according to an analysis of government data.
These deaths "are entirely preventable – it's the most important point," said Dr. Fern Hauck, co-author and expert on infant mortality at the University of Virginia.
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About 70% of the 250 suffocation deaths involved blankets, pillows or other soft sheets that clogged the airways of infants. Half of these deaths related to soft bedding occurred in an adult bed where most babies slept on their stomachs.
Nearly 20% choked when someone in the bed accidentally moved against or on them, and about 12% died when their face was stuck against a wall or mattress.
The authors studied the 2011-2014 data from a death registry of disease control and prevention centers in 10 states. The results provide a more detailed look at the circumstances of death than previous studies using vital registration records, said lead author Alexa Erck Lambert, a researcher at the CDC.
The authors stated that anecdotal reports suggest that unsafe sleep practices have changed little in recent years.
"It's very, very scary to see this resistance, or the persistence of these high numbers, manifesting itself in the United States," Hauck said.
The study was published Monday in pediatrics.
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For years, the United States Government and the American Academy of Pediatrics have conducted restorative sleep campaigns aimed at preventing infantile suffocation and strangulation and sudden infant death syndrome. This includes advice on "going back to sleep", which calls for sleeping babies on their backs, which, experts say, has contributed to reducing the number of deaths from SIDS by nearly 30 years. But bed sharing has increased, as has bed accidental suffocation: from 6 deaths per 100,000 infants in 1999 to 23 per 100,000 in 2015, the researchers noted.
Dr. Rachel Moon, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Virginia, did not participate in the study, saying the results are not surprising.
"Every day, I talk to parents who have lost babies, they thought they were doing what was right, it seems safe and it seems to be going on, until you lose a baby," said Moon.
Some studies have shown that sharing beds increases breastfeeding and that it is common in some families because of cultural traditions. Others just can not afford a crib.
Erika Moulton, a stay-at-home mom from suburban New York City, said sharing the bed was the only way her son, Hugo, could sleep as a newborn. Moulton had trouble sleeping enough for months, and although she knew the doctors did not recommend it, bed sharing seemed to be the only option.
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Now 14 months old, "he is still in bed," she said. "Trying to get him out is a bit difficult."
The group of pediatricians recommends that infants sleep on firm mattresses, in their own cradle or cradle, but in their parents' room during the first year. A fitted top sheet is the only bedding recommended to avoid choking or strangulation.
Young babies can not easily get away from bedding or a sleeping parent; all deaths in the study involved infants under 8 months of age.
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