The approach to keeping your newborn baby safe has evolved over the years; the biggest change being in where and how they sleep. (WSBT photo)
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WSBT) —The approach to keeping your newborn baby safe has evolved over the years; the biggest change being in where and how they sleep
In this month’s Eye on Health, WSBT22’s Bob Montgomery reports on a new campaign from Beacon Health and St. Joseph County, “Babies Need to Breathe.”
For decades, new parents would put babies on their bellies to sleep, and newborn babies were dying by the thousands
Researchers started looking at why this was happening and in the mid-90s the script, and the babies, flipped
From that point forward the approach of putting babies to sleep on their backs cut the number of infant deaths from about 10,000 a year to 3,500
Sally Dixon is the Maternal Infant Health Coordinator for St. Joseph County’s Fetal Infant Mortality Review Team
She says putting babies on their backs to sleep makes perfect sense when you consider their oxygen needs
“Think about what a baby looks like when they’re sleeping. Their mouth is closed, and if you think about their little nostrils, their little, tiny noses, that’s the way all of the oxygen gets into their lungs and then connected to their airway is only the size of a straw” says Dixon.
Bianca Nash is the Community Action Coordinator for this team. She says keeping your baby’s breathing, and those brand-new lungs safe, is also important when they’re awake
“Have a better understanding of not smoking in the home or around the baby that could potentially impact the baby’s respiratory health. We have seen in some cases that there have been instances where infants have had compromised respiratory systems as a result of smoking,” said Nash
That’s why the “Babies Need to Breathe” campaign is focusing on the ABCs plus the D’s and E’s
Babies need to sleep A: alone, B: on their backs, C: in a crib or bassinette that’s free of pillows, blankets, or soft toys, D: don’t smoke, and E: everyone (parents, grandparents and caregivers)
“We started the ‘Babies Need to Breathe’ campaign to add that, so that people understand that babies being flat helps keep their airway open and set a goal to say, ‘we can have zero deaths.” said Dixon
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