Three babies in Leavenworth County died in the last year because parents were sharing a bed with them.
One of the infants was a patient of Leavenworth pediatrician Dr. Debra Heidgen.
“A lot of these can occur, not just on the bed, but on the sofa. So it's not really co-bed sharing , it's co-sleeping,” Heidgen explained.
Doctors advise new parents against sharing a sleeping space. It’s a conversation that happens at the hospital, but the advice is often not followed.
“They're so exhausted but they don't realize when you're that exhausted that you don't awake and your baby, because of their size, they don't cry out, they don't let you know they're being suffocated, they just stop breathing,” Heidgen said.
Leavenworth County District Attorney Todd Thompson felt the need to alert the public of this problem after he looked into the infants’ deaths.
“After examining the evidence and talking with officers, nothing criminal happened. It’s just a devastating tragedy," Thompson said. "As county attorney, I just want to make people aware. Education is the most important thing, and even though they may not think this will happen to them, there is a possibility."
Thompson noted another statistic: 74 percent of babies who die from SIDS were found co-sleeping with a parent.
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Lexi Sutter can be reached at lexi.sutter@kshb.com.
