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New Report Shows Putting Children to Sleep in Adult Beds Could Be Dangerous

Aired May 03, 2002 - 14:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Parents, listen up a moment here. We've long heard about the importance of how you put your baby to sleep, the position, we're talking about. But where your infant sleeps could also spell danger. Our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen in New York today, here with a very important warning.

Elizabeth, what is it? Good afternoon.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Bill. There is some pretty scary news coming out of the Consumer Products Safety Commission today. They said that in three years, from 1999 to 2001, there were 180 deaths when children were placed in adult beds, usually sleeping, you know, with their family. Of those, almost all of them were children under age one.

Now, 58 of those deaths, about 1/3 of them, were when someone rolled over on the child. But there were other ways that the children died. We have a video that has a doll that shows what exactly happens. For example, sometimes the doll got -- the babies, rather, got stuck between, as you can see here, the wall and the bed, smothered in soft bedding, which children should never be around.

Here, between a bed and a piece of furniture, children got stuck sometimes. Also sometimes between the mattress and the headboard, as you can see. A baby that's really little can't get out of that position. They don't have the power to do that. Also, adult beds sometimes have spindles that are placed too far apart so the baby's head can actually get through. And some babies strangle that way.

Here's the right way to put a baby to bed, according to the Consumer Products Safety Commission: in a crib on their back. This sleeping position is important because that can reduce the risk that they're going to die of SIDS. Also there are some playpens that are OK to put children to bed in.

Now, it's interesting because a lot of child care experts say that a family bed, a child sleeping with the parents, is a wonderful thing and it builds a close bond between the parents and the children. But the Consumer Products Safety Commission just says no.

I talked to one of these experts who still, by the way, even with this study, advocates the family bed. And he said, listen, all -- tons of other cultures do this. The U.S. is actually one of the few that doesn't tend to do this.

And why not, since parents inevitably are going to do it, especially if the child is cranky and wants to sleep with their parents at 4:00 in the morning, parents are going to do it anyhow. So why not just tell parents to do it right? Why not tell them how to place the furniture, what kind of bed to get. And tell them the right way to do it rather than say don't do it at all.

But the Consumer Products Safety Commission still says, don't do it at all -- Bill.

HEMMER: Has the Commission ever released any findings like this before?

COHEN: They did a couple of years ago, where they said that this seems to be happening and they had some data. This is even more data that says, don't put your child in an adult-sized bed.

HEMMER: Well, it's good advice to know, certainly. I'm just kind of curious if this was an annual update or something that should be revisited every year. Because certainly, it's -- if nothing else, it's a good reminder, especially with the spindle area, too.

COHEN: Absolutely.

HEMMER: Elizabeth, thank you very much. Elizabeth Cohen there in New York, reporting on that story there.

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