Snohomish County warns of increase in infant deaths over unsafe sleep environments

EVERETT, Wash. - An alarming number of infants in Snohomish County are dying from unsafe sleeping situations. Experts with the Snohomish County Health Department said the main issue is well-meaning parents are sharing their bed with their baby and putting them at great risk of suffocation.

"Unfortunately, unsafe sleep is very prominent in our community, because we have a lot of bed-sharing," said Shawneri Guzman, community outreach coordinator for South County Fire.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team would see six to seven infant deaths per year due to unsafe sleep, mostly from sharing the bed with their families. The health department reported from 2020 to 2022, 19 infants in Snohomish County lost their lives.

"That’s a lot," said Guzman. "If we saw that number of kids dying in a car crash or a drowning, we would be up in arms and want to know what we could do about it. But sleep-related deaths are kind of the silent epidemic, because we don’t talk about it."

The health department leads the Snohomish County Child Death Review, a collaborative team of injury prevention experts, youth workers, educators, healthcare professionals and individual case consultants who study unexpected yet preventable deaths of children.

"We look at all the potential causes after a thorough medical examiner's evaluation. And we look at the environment to see what contributed to the sleep related death. In nearly all of the cases, it was co-sleeping or bed sharing, which leads to suffocation," said Guzman.

South County Fire and Guzman partner with the Snohomish County Child Death Review team. Guzman also teaches free classes throughout the community about the dangers, and what to do to increase safety.

Guzman said more parents should become familiar and practice the ABC’s of safe sleeping. She advised babies should sleep:

• Alone
• On their Back
• On a flat surface, like a Crib

"It should not be an inclined surface, it has to lie flat," explained Guzman. "In the crib, bassinet or pack-and-play, the only thing that belongs in there is a tight fitted sheet over the mattress and the baby. No blankets, no pillows, no stuffed animals. You just want it to be clear of all of those things for any potential suffocation or strangulation risks."

When parents of newborns ask Guzman what’s a safe alternative to a blanket to keep their child warm while sleeping, she suggests what’s called a "sleep sack," described as a wearable blanket or sleeping bag. She also warned parents of products to avoid, like a weighted sleep sack which is trending on social media.

"The claims of a weighted sleep sack—the baby, in theory, is supposed to feel held and more secure. But when in fact having that weight on the chest interferes with the lungs being able to fully expand, and especially for a child that might have lung issues or getting a cold it could actually cause a suffocation injury," said Guzman.

Guzman said South County Fire partners with Snohomish County to provide free pack-and-play kits to support families who don’t have access or the means to provide their baby a safe sleep environment.

"It comes with a fitted sheet, and it also comes with a sleep sack. But those are limited. And so, once we exhaust our supply, we generally don’t have funds, typically grant funding or donations, until the following year," said Guzman.

South County Fire also offers free child safety classes, both in person and virtually on Zoom. Registration is available online.