A $50,000 grant from the UnitedHealth Foundation to the city of Milwaukee’s Cribs for Kids program over the next year will help the city provide free portable cribs to families that cannot afford them, and help raise awareness of safe sleep practices.

The grant is to be announced during a 10:30 a.m. press conference at the Northwest Health Center, 7630 W. Mill Road, one of three locations where referrals, education and distribution of the portable cribs are administered.

The Cribs for Kids program provides families with portable Pack ‘n Play cribs to help reduce deaths due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and unsafe sleep. Pack ‘n Plays are provided to families who are unable to purchase one, and who are in their last four weeks of pregnancy or who have an infant under six months of age.

Pack ‘n Plays are used because they are portable. Before a family is given a Pack ‘n Play, Cribs for Kids provides education and training on proper sleep position and sleep environment for the baby.

To participate in the Cribs for Kids program in Milwaukee, a Medicaid-eligible parent can make an appointment at any one of the three Milwaukee Health Department Safe Sleep Clinics located throughout the city. Each appointment lasts about an hour. During that time, the parent learns about safe sleep practices and is given a demonstration of how to set up and take down the Pack ‘n Play.  To contact the Cribs for Kids Program by phone, call (414)286-8620.

Milwaukee Health Department’s Cribs for Kids program started in 2009 and continues to grow each year, giving out 400 cribs in 2009 and almost 1000 cribs each year in 2010 and 2011.  Mayor Tom Barrett and City Health Commissioner Bevan Baker are to be joined at the press conference by Jeff Nohl, president of UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Wisconsin, and Bruce Weiss, market medical director for UnitedHealthcare of Wisconsin.

Original Article:  JSOnline (Milwaukee Journal Sentinal)
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/138972819.html

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Court of Appeals has refused to dismiss charges against a couple accused of killing their baby in 2006 by sleeping with him – their second child to die in bed with them.

The appeals judges sided with a lower court in a pair of opinions released Friday concerning the death of 3-month-old Kayson Merrill. The infant died while in bed between his father, Trevor Merrill, and mother, Echo Nielsen, both 28, of South Jordan.

The parents, whose first child also died while sleeping with them in 2003, have been charged with child-abuse homicide and reckless endangerment. They have pleaded not guilty.

Defense attorneys argued there wasn’t enough certainty to go to trial after the medical examiner also cited illness and low birth weight in his report.

But the appeals court disagreed, saying Utah judges have previously allowed experts “relying on their training and knowledge to provide opinions that do not amount to medical certainty.”

Kayson Merill was put to sleep on his back, but found dead on his stomach.

He was too young to roll over on his own as a baby, evidence that “supports a reasonable inference that Trevor Merrill actually caused the infant to stop breathing by co-sleeping,” according to the court’s opinion.

The parents also had an infant daughter who died three years before while sleeping with them, but her death by positional asphyxia was listed as accidental.

The appeals court decided evidence of the first death could be admitted at trial, despite the objections of defense attorneys who argued it wasn’t relevant and would prejudice the jury.

An attorney for Nielsen declined to comment, and Merrill’s lawyer didn’t immediately return a phone call.

Original Artical: Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/09/co-sleeping-baby-death_n_1193783.html

By Karen Herzog and Crocker Stephenson of the Journal Sentinel
Nov. 9, 2011 |(85) Comments

Minutes before city officials unveiled a new safe-sleep advertising campaign Wednesday, the medical examiner’s office announced that a 7-week-old baby was found dead on Milwaukee’s south side after co-sleeping with his or her mother.

The infant, whose gender was not released, is at least the ninth Milwaukee baby to die this year while in an unsafe sleep environment. Details of the child’s death will be released following an autopsy, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner said.

News of the death, which apparently had not yet been conveyed to Mayor Tom Barrett and Commissioner of Health Bevan Baker, underscored the urgency of the ad they unveiled during a morning news conference at the Southside Health Center, 1639 S. 23rd St.

The ad shows a baby sleeping in an adult bed with a butcher knife tucked beside him.

The tagline reads: “Your baby sleeping with you can be just as dangerous.”

Barrett said that, when he first saw the preliminary ads designed by SERVE Marketing, he wondered whether they were “too provocative and too raw.”

But the mayor said he shudders every time he receives a phone call about another co-sleeping infant death and considers the tragedy of what could be a preventable death.

“We as adults who love babies love the thought of a baby in bed,” Barrett said.

“Cuddling a baby is very nurturing,” he said.

But if it takes a raw message to get the point across that babies must sleep alone, on their backs, in their own cribs, the ad is not too shocking, the mayor said.

“Co-sleeping deaths are the most preventable form of infant death in this community,” Barrett said.

“Is it shocking? Is it provocative?” asked Baker, the health commissioner.

“Yes. But what is even more shocking and provocative is that 30 developed and underdeveloped countries have better (infant death) rates than Milwaukee.”

The Journal Sentinel has been reporting on the many facets of the city’s infant mortality crisis this year in its Empty Cradles series.

Milwaukee’s infant mortality rate in 2009 was 10.4 deaths for every 1,000 live births, according to the health department.

For white babies, it was 5.4. The rate for black babies was nearly three times as high: 14.1.

Also during the news conference, Barrett and Baker announced a goal – which the Journal Sentinel reported Wednesday – to reduce Milwaukee’s infant mortality rate to a historic low by 2017.

The new city goal would reduce the city’s black infant mortality rate by 15% and the city’s overall rate by 10%.

The black rate would be 12 deaths for every 1,000 births. The overall rate would be 9.4.

The goal is based on the Milwaukee Health Department’s analysis of 41 years of infant death statistics.

Barrett and Baker say focusing on the death rate for black infants will help the city reduce an unacceptable racial disparity.

They called on the entire community to join the effort, including health care systems, individual hospitals, doctors, the business community and community-based organizations. All have a vested interest in a healthy Milwaukee, they said.

The United Way of Greater Milwaukee earlier this year joined the city’s campaign to reduce infant death rates. The partnership was kicked off with an initial grant of $200,000 to improve mother and child health in targeted ZIP codes with the worst birth outcomes: 53206, 53210, and 53216.

The money will fund a nurse and social worker who will make home visits in the targeted ZIP codes and address factors that contribute to infant mortality, including smoking, unsafe sleep practices and not breast-feeding.

Another citywide effort is the Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families.

That group is expected to soon announce its goal: Eliminating racial disparity in Milwaukee’s infant death rate by 2020.)

Washington, D.C – Senator Frank Lautenberg and Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. in an effort to raise awareness about stillbirth and Sudden Unexplained Infant Deaths, both urgent public health concerns, Monday will renew efforts to prevent these deaths through research and raising awareness in parents and doctors. There are more than 4,600 Sudden Unexplained Infant Deaths each year and another 200 children between the ages 1 and 4 die without any obvious cause. Additional tragedies could be prevented if there were a better understanding of the deaths.

Read Original Article at Charlotte Reporter:   http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/10/20/2706650/observer-series-on-infant-deaths.html#ixzz1cOMV3K7I

Kohl’s Cares presented USA Children’s & Women’s Hospital with a check for $110,612 to expand the Kohl’s Infant Safe Sleep, or KISS, program at the hospital.  From left are Owen Bailey, USA Children’s & Women’s Hospital administrator, Veronica Hudson, nurse manager of the hospital’s Mother/Baby unit, and Angela Howard, executive assistant general manager of Kohl’s Department Store.

Kohl’s Department Store, through the Kohl’s Cares cause merchandise program, has announced a grant of $110,612 to USA Children’s & Women’s Hospital to renew and expand a safe sleeping program for infants.  The program is called KISS, which stands for Kohl’s Infant Safe Sleep.   Since starting the KISS program four years ago, Kohl’s Department Stores – through the Kohl’s Cares cause merchandise program – has provided USA Children’s & Women’s Hospital $278,949 in support.  The funds are used to purchase educational materials for parents and other caregivers, promote infant safe sleeping habits in the community and provide free cribs to qualifying families.

The Kohl’s Cribs for Kids initiative last year distributed 110 Pack ‘n Play portable cribs to qualifying Mobile County families.  The cribs can play a key role in reducing deaths due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, and unsafe sleep.  Last year, 43 infants died in Mobile County before their first birthday, a figure that has remained constant since 2008.  Preliminary data shows 11 of the deaths were sleep-related, one less than a year ago.

“We are thrilled that Kohl’s has decided to support Kohl’s Cribs for Kids once again,” Nicole Smith, RN, quality assurance director with MOM Care at USA Children’s & Women’s Hospital, said.  “As the infant mortality figures for Mobile County show, there is much work to be done to create a safer environment for babies.”

USA Children’s & Women’s Hospital, through MOM Care – Mobile’s Medicaid Maternity Program – provides education and training for qualifying families on proper sleep position and sleep environment for the baby.  When a qualifying family completes the program, they receive a free Pack ‘n Play.  The cribs are portable and can be taken wherever the baby receives care.

“Some families, due to financial strains, find themselves in a position of not being able to afford a crib and this can quickly turn tragic,” Smith said.  “The Kohl’s Cribs for Kids program provides qualifying families with the most basic of needs to help prevent an unnecessary and tragic death.”

The KISS program emphasizes education, as USA Children’s & Women’s Hospital nurses go out into the community to teach parents and caregivers safe sleeping habits for infants.

“There continues to be concern in our community about SIDS and the need to educate parents and caregivers about infant safe sleep habits,” Veronica Hudson, RN, nurse manager of the Mother/Baby Unit at USA Children’s & Women’s Hospital, said.

“With Kohl’s support, we are presently in more locations teaching families both in the hospital and the community about SIDS and safe sleep habits,” Hudson said.  “We really appreciate Kohl’s giving us the support to teach caregivers the importance of positioning and the sleep environment for infants.”   Hudson and her team share some key points about infant sleep habits, such as always placing your baby on his or her back to sleep, even for naps.  Other important reminders are:

• Place your baby on a firm mattress, such as in a safety approved crib
• Remove soft, fluffy bedding and stuffed toys from your baby’s crib
• Make sure your baby’s head and face remain uncovered during sleep
• Do not allow smoking around your baby
• Do not let your baby get too warm during sleep
• Talk to childcare providers, grandparents, babysitters and all caregivers about SIDS risks
• Do not allow your baby to share a bed with anyone
• Have the infant sleep in the same room as the caregiver
• Consider offering a pacifier at nap time and bedtime
• Encourage “tummy time” when the infant is awake and observed by a caregiver

“By providing safe sleep education and needed support to parents and other family members, we hope that this will help families feel comfortable in caring for their newborns, have the resources they need to care for their newborns, and that the number of SIDS cases can continuously be reduced,” Hudson said.  “The KISS program is a great opportunity to use the resources offered by the nurses of USA Children’s & Women’s Hospital and the support provided by Kohl’s to deliver a community awareness campaign of infant safe sleep practices.”

To schedule a KISS visit, or for more information about Kohl’s Cribs for Kids, please call USA Children’s & Women’s Hospital at 415-1000 or visit www.usahealthsystem.com/usacwh, then click on Education and look for the KISS link.

Article found on USA Health System website:  http://www.usahealthsystem.com/body.cfm?id=3308&action=detail&ref=72

By: By MICHELE G. SULLIVAN, Family Practice News Digital Network

The study, which is indeed one of the most atypical and groundbreaking studies ever conducted by Australian researchers, revealed that out of 72 infant deaths identified during 2008 and 2010, as many as 33 were caused when babies shared the sleeping surface with an adult.

The sleeping surface counted sofas, armchairs, beds, mattresses, etc. In addition, the study also highlighted that 28 out of the 33 confirmed cases were diagnosed to be SIDS incidents.

Based on their findings, the researchers advised that till the time some elaborated research is conducted in the said arena, parents should avoid or at least limit ”co-sleeping”, as it is likely allied to increased threat of newborn death. And hence, babies should be provided separate sleeping surface, though rooms may be shared by his or her parents.

The process is highly advisable to be followed during first four months, as the study found that in Victoria, the count of co-sleeping baby deaths spiked from seven in 2008 to 15 last year.

Direct link to original article:  http://www.frenchtribune.com/teneur/117531-babies-sleeping-adults-greater-risk-death-study

As a response, CDC’s Division of Reproductive  Health’s (DRH) began the Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID) Initiative. CDC  and its partners began activities aimed at improving the investigation and  reporting practices of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and other SUID.

The CDC’s research on SUID  and SIDS focuses on efforts to standardize and improve data collected at infant  death scenes and to promote consistent classification and reporting of cause  and manner of death for SUID cases. By  improving national reporting of SUID, we aim to prevent SUIDs by using improved  data to monitor trends and identify those at risk.

SUID Initiative Goals and Activities

The goals of the SUID  Initiative are to—

1. Standardize and improve data collected  at death scene.
2. Promote consistent classification and  reporting of cause of death.
3. Improve national reporting of SUID.
4. Reduce SUID by using improved data to  identify those at risk.

To accomplish these  objectives, the CDC SUID Initiative collaborated with a number of organizations  to—

1. Revise the 1996 Sudden Unexplained Infant Death Investigation  Reporting Form (SUIDIRF).
2. Develop a training curriculum and materials for investigators of  infant deaths.
3. Train medicolegal professionals and child advocates to conduct  comprehensive infant death investigations.
4. Develop and implement a state-based SUID  Case Registry.

Sudden Unexplained Infant Death Investigation Reporting Form

In 2003, CDC led activities aimed at revising  the 1996 Sudden Unexplained Infant Death Investigation Reporting Form and Guidelines for the scene investigation, as well as actively educating and disseminating training materials on infant  death scene investigations.

In March 2006, a revised reporting form known as  the SUIDIRF was  released. Along with the revised SUIDIRF, the CDC and partners developed  training materials and conducted train-the-trainer regional academies for  medical examiners, coroners, investigators, and child advocates across the United States.

Training Materials

When the CDC published the 1996 SUIDIRF, an evaluation suggested that more medicolegal professionals were likely to use the form if there were training to accompany the form (Hauck, 2001).

The SUID Initiative and collaborative partners created the following training materials:

• Sudden Unexplained Infant Death Investigation Curriculum.
• SUID Investigator’s Guidelines.

These training materials were used in conducting the five regional Sudden Unexplained Infant Death Investigation Training Academies.

Training Academies

As a means of disseminating Sudden Unexplained Infant Death Investigation training curriculum and materials, CDC conducted train-the-trainer academies in five U.S. regions from 2006 to 2008. These regional, multidisciplinary academies provided training for every state, as well as American Indian/Alaska Native teams. The academies produced more than 250 trainers, including medical examiners, coroners, law enforcement officers, child advocates, college faculty members, and medicolegal death scene investigators. Individuals participating in these academies were expected to conduct additional trainings at conferences, meetings, and courses in their respective states.

Topics covered at the training academy included how to—

• Complete the SUIDIRF.
• Interview families.
• Conduct death scene investigations including doll reenactments.
• Assess infant growth and development.

The SUIDIRF and training curriculum have been endorsed by several national organizations representing law enforcement, medical examiners, and coroners. More than 20,000 individuals have been trained, and many jurisdictions report that they are using the new SUIDIRF.   View map SUIDI  Training Academies.

SUID Surveillance System Feasibility Study

In 2007, CDC conducted a SUID surveillance feasibility study with seven states in collaboration with CDC’s National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). NVDRS is a state-based surveillance system that links data from law enforcement, coroners and medical examiners, and vital statistics, etc. The feasibility study indicated that the most efficient way to develop a surveillance system would be to use the Child Death Review (CDR) system already in place. CDC partners suggested calling a future surveillance system the SUID Case Registry.

SUID Case Registry

Planning and Development

In 2008, partners with an interest in SIDS and SUID came together to discuss the logistics of the SUID Case Registry and Surveillance System. Partners supported the idea of building upon and enhance the CDR system, as it would strengthen multidisciplinary team reviews already in place and avoid duplication of efforts. Discussion also focused around creating a program model, delineating objectives, and questions that a SUID Case Registry could answer, and defining a limited set of variables.

The SUID Case Registry aims to generate public health surveillance information about SUID at the national, state, and local levels that is more detailed than what is currently  available.  Instead of creating an entirely new system, the SUID Case Registry enhances the National Center for Child Death Review program and their Case Reporting System.

The SUID Case Registry generates public health surveillance information that can comprehensively describe the circumstances and events surrounding SUID cases. This will allow researchers, medicolegal investigators, and program prevention planners to better understand characteristics associated with SUID, evaluate case investigation practices, and ultimately prevent infant deaths.

The SUID Case Registry’s objectives are to—

1. Create state-level surveillance systems that build upon Child Death Review activities.
2. Categorize SUID using standard definitions.
3. Monitor the incidence of different types of SUID and describe demographic and environmental factors.
4. Determine similarities and differences among SUID unexplained by autopsy.
5. Inform interventions and potentially save lives.

SUID Case Registry Pilot Program

In July 2009, five state participants were announced to receive funding for the SUID Case Registry Pilot Study as part of a cooperative agreement. Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, New Jersey, and New Mexico began entering information about SUID cases in January 2010. They use a modified version of the National Center for Child Death Review’s Web-based data collection system already place specific to SUID. An additional two states (New Hampshire and Minnesota) were added to the SUID Case Registry in July 2010.

Hauck F. Final Report:  National Survey to Evaluate Use of the Sudden Unexplained Infant Death  Investigation Report Form (SUIDI RF). Charlottesville, VA: University of  Virginia Health System; 2001 (unpublished).

Article posted on CDC website:  http://www.cdc.gov/sids/SUIDAbout.htm

Baltimore, MD (September 27, 2011) – The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene today announced that it will publish for public comment a proposal to ban the sale of crib bumper pads for infants starting in January 2013.  The Department also released a document summarizing the evidence and providing the basis for its action. The proposed ban is part of a broader effort to promote safe sleep for infants by encouraging the ABCs: Babies should sleep Alone, on their Backs, and in a Crib.

The proposal follows a public input and review process.  As part of this process, a panel of health experts, after reviewing available data, evidence and public comments and holding two public meetings, concluded that the risks associated with the use of crib bumper pads in infant cribs outweigh potential benefits.

“Our priority is the health of infants in Maryland,” said Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, Secretary of DHMH. “We agree with our expert advisors that based on all available evidence, these products pose an unnecessary risk to infants.”

The proposal is in the “informal” stage, meaning that the Department will consider public comments before deciding whether to proceed to a formal proposal under the state’s administrative procedures.  This is a step that the Department can take when additional input may be helpful. Today’s proposal on infant crib bumper pads includes several specific questions for public input.

The Department’s investigation into crib bumper pads commenced on April 22, 2011, with the publication in the Maryland Register of a request for public comments. Secretary Sharfstein then appointed a panel of health experts to review the comments and other available evidence, and to advise the Department on whether action regarding the use of bumper pads was warranted. The panel held two public meetings, on May 20, 2011 and July 13, 2011.

The Department reviewed all comments, documents and transcripts from the meetings, and determined that the risk of death from crib bumper pads, while rare, is real, and is not offset by commensurate benefits.

The proposed ban would apply to pads intended to be used around the sides of a crib until the age that an infant is able to pull to stand. This would exclude pads for older infants or for children who have special needs. The proposal would prohibit the sale of the crib bumper pads beginning on January 1, 2013, in order to allow for considerable public education in the context of the “safe sleep” message.

All comments should be submitted by 5 p.m. November 4, 2011.  Comments may be submitted by mail to Michele Phinney, Director, Office of Regulation and Policy Coordination, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 201 W. Preston Street, Room 512, Baltimore, MD 21201, or call 410-767-6499, TTY: 800-735-2258, or by email to regs@dhmh.state.md.us, or by fax to 410-767-7483.

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