Fox 4: Two accidental infant deaths in Northland prompt sleep safety campaign

By John Pepitone

Two accidental infant deaths in the Northland in September have police urging parents to learn about safe sleep practices for babies.

Police are partnering with Children's Mercy Hospital to hand out educational pamphlets when officers meet newborn parents.

According to the hospital's child safety and injury prevention center, there are about 3,500 sleep-related deaths among babies every year in the United States.

Police say too often parents who don't have a separate sleep area for their babies end up falling asleep with them in the same bed, and that can result in tragedy.

"A lot of the concerns we have with that is parents rolling over onto the child during sleep or the child slipping between couch cushions and becomes entrapped in cushions," said Brad Winfrey, manager of the hospital's childhood safety center. "So keeping a child in their own sleep area is the safest place for a child to sleep from birth to one year old."

Read the full story via Fox 4.

Learn more about the Center for Childhood Safety at Children's Mercy