Expand<\/a><\/p>\nWhitman, who works with parents and babies at Commonwealth Health\u2019s Moses Taylor Hospital,\u00a0reminds parents of the importance of refraining from marijuana, alcohol and other drugs since they can cause drowsiness and slow responsive reaction.<\/p>\n
During a new mom\u2019s stay at the hospital, staff educate parents about issues such as proper sleeping protocol for newborns.<\/p>\n
For example, if a new mother is falling asleep while breast feeding, staff will suggest putting the baby down.<\/p>\n
Good practice dictates that babies should sleep on a firm surface with no bumpers, blankets or pillows around them.<\/p>\n
Whitman said such recommendations have changed over times, but have remained basically consistent for over a decade.<\/p>\n
![\"Mehgan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/STT-L-COSLEEPING-0215-01_44fb12.jpg\")
Mehgan Gagorik, executive director for the Children\u2019s Advocacy Center of NEPA and co-chair of the NEPA Sleep Safety Task Force, poses for a portrait in the center in Scranton Thursday, February 12, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
\nHelp from the sleep safety task force<\/p>\n
After six infants died from co-sleeping in the first seven months of 2025, area leaders knew that had to do be proactive. Two of those deaths are tied to criminal cases.<\/p>\n
They formed the NEPA Sleep Safety Task force, a collaboration between the Lackawanna County District Attorney\u2019s Office and the Children\u2019s Advocacy Center of NEPA.<\/p>\n
The task force meets monthly to address the alarming and preventable trend of sleep-related deaths in the area, according to Meghan Gagorik, executive director of the Children\u2019s Advocacy Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpecifically in 2025, we were at the mid-year point and we had six deaths in Lackawanna County related to sleep environments which traditionally was the number for the entire year,\u201d she said. \u201cWe wanted to do what we could do to prevent this from occurring in the future and that\u2019s how we all came together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gagorik\u00a0believes parents generally want to be good parents, but can sometimes be misinformed, especially by social media.<\/p>\n
Lackawanna County has numerous resources available to parents, including Maternal and Family Services and St. Joseph\u2019s Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a ton of people doing great work and resources available to people who need them,\u201d she said. \u201cIf they need things like a crib, get them to people<\/p>\n
Gagorik pointed out that, in addition to safe sleeping, it\u2019s important to keep babies safe throughout the day.<\/p>\n
For example, it\u2019s important not to over-bundle a child in a car seat and keep babies away from blankets and other hazards.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to make sure that every time a child is sleeping, or even if they\u2019re not sleeping, they have a safe environment every time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tracy Whitman, a certified pediatric nurse practitioner, stresses parents can remain physically close to their babies without bringing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[202,201,182,139,28,178,180,179],"class_list":["post-114717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"American](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/STT-L-COSLEEPING-0215-03-1.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"American](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/STT-L-COSLEEPING-0215-02.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n![\"American](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/STT-L-COSLEEPING-0215-01_98045c-1.jpg?w=620\")
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