{"id":303030,"date":"2026-10-09T11:16:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T11:16:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/303030\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T11:16:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T11:16:31","slug":"erie-co-health-commissioner-issues-reminder-of-infant-bed-safety-tips-after-seven-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/303030\/","title":{"rendered":"Erie Co. Health Commissioner issues reminder of infant bed safety tips after seven deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"

For many older children, teens and adults, sleeping on one\u2019s side or on one\u2019s stomach may feel comfortable. But for an infant, it could be deadly.<\/p>\n

With the Erie County Health Department reporting seven sudden infant deaths in the past two months, Erie County Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein is issuing a reminder about what she calls a tragedy that can be averted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that soft bedding and co-sleeping and infants sleeping on their stomachs are common and preventable causes of sudden infant deaths. It really is the cause of about three out of four sudden infant deaths,\u201d Burstein said.<\/p>\n

The health commissioner referred to the American Academy of Pediatrics\u2019 website, HealthyChildren.org<\/a>, where parents could receive tips on safe practices when putting their baby to bed.<\/p>\n

Burstein says parents should follow \u201cABC.\u201d A meaning alone, B meaning on the child\u2019s back, and C meaning in a crib, bassinet, playpen, or other firmly based setup. She spoke more about the importance of avoiding putting a baby on its stomach to sleep.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can’t move their head, so their face will be forced into the mattress, and that will lead to suffocation,\u201d Burstein said. \u201cBabies need to sleep on their back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burstein also emphasized that putting the baby down alone means no other people or objects.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlone means no teddy bears, no stuffed animals, no other kids, no pillows, no crib bumpers, no blankets,\u201d she said. \u201cThey can be swaddled in a blanket, or they can wear some type of warm onesie. But there’s no (loose) blanket. It should be like the naked crib, nothing else in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that adults should put the baby to bed in the same room as where they will sleep, but not put the baby in their bed.
Burstein also encouraged parents to make sure babies are vaccinated on schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s a new vaccine out, the RSV vaccine. RSV is a virus that can cause some very severe illness and lead to hospitalizations for babies because they get very ill and it\u2019s difficult for them to breathe,\u201d she said. \u201cMany babies are eligible to receive this RSV vaccine, so we recommend that they get that at the newborn period, and then also with the vaccines at two, four, and six months of age include the pertussis vaccine.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For many older children, teens and adults, sleeping on one\u2019s side or on one\u2019s stomach may feel comfortable.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137],"class_list":["post-303030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303030","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=303030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}