NEWS

State: Recent rash of child deaths 'unprecedented'

Kate Royals
The Clarion-Ledger
Depiction of a safe sleep environment.

Seven infants and children in Mississippi have died in the past month due to unsafe sleeping conditions, and officials are saying it is cause for great concern.

Over the past year, 12 infants and children in Mississippi died under these circumstances, which can range from children who suffocated due to parents or relatives sleeping with them, sleeping in a bed with too many blankets or lying in an unsafe crib.

But from June 29 to Thursday, seven children ranging from three weeks to two years old died after being asphyxiated or suffocated due to an unsafe sleeping environment.

"It's basically unheard of for us to get that many reports (in that amount of time)," said Tonya Rogillio, director of special investigations for the Division of Family and Children Services at the Department of Human Services.

Rogillio said the circumstances that led to the deaths varied.

"Some were infants in adult beds, or infants in a co-sleeping situation. There was also a situation where a child was sleeping in a Pack n Play (a bassinet that converts to a play pen) that had lots of pillows and blankets in it," she described.

The department declined to say in what counties the six deaths occurred, but did say they were not concentrated in one area and emphasized it was a statewide problem.

The deaths are part of a larger trend of an increased number of child fatalities due to child abuse and neglect.

Last fiscal year saw the highest number of child fatalities due to abuse and neglect in a six-year period in Mississippi. From Oct. 1, 2013 to Sept. 30, 2014, 22 children died, almost double the amount from the previous year.

Mississippi also has one of the highest infant mortality rates, which includes all deaths, not just those due to abuse and neglect. Many of them are caused by SIDS, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

While SIDS is not preventable and the causes remain unknown, unsafe sleeping environments can contribute, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Eleven years ago, one week before Christmas, Samantha Kalahar's seven month old son died from SIDS after he stopped breathing during a nap. Although his death wasn't caused by an unsafe sleeping environment, she can identify with the pain any parent feels after losing a baby.

Samantha Kalahar

Kalahar of Madison, who has since had other children, said she found comfort through her faith and the support group she attended through the Mississippi SIDS Alliance. Since her son's death, she takes every possible opportunity to educate new parents on safe sleeping conditions for their babies.

"I do think Mississippi needs to look really hard (at the issue) … There is something going on in Mississippi that isn't happening in other places and we should be able to address that," Kalahar said. "What is causing more Mississippi babies to die?"

Mississippi's infant mortality rate – or the number of infant deaths per 1,000 live births in a given year – runs at 9.9, second only to Guam's rate of 10.8.

Tamara Garner, the bureau director for prevention and protection with the state human services department, said it's her impression Mississippi is not alone in experiencing a recent increase in the number of child fatalities.

"We're definitely in good company as far as the whole nation goes. All the states are looking at what they can do to reduce fatalities in their area," Garner said.

The department recently created the special investigations team in response to the uptick in deaths, including those specifically dealing with unsafe sleeping conditions.

One of the team's findings is there are certain common conditions in the homes where fatalities occur, including substance abuse, untreated mental illness, domestic violence and unrelated people in the house.

"We don't say these things cause it, but they're common denominators," said Garner.

Garner said through her experience serving on the Child Death Review Panel, which reviews individual death cases of children under 18 years old in the state for the past year and makes recommendations based on its findings, unsafe sleep environments is "the most common reason we find child deaths."

The department has picked up its prevention efforts by buying radio spots, mentioning safe sleep environments in speeches, and raising awareness of programs like Cribs for Kids, which purchases cribs for parents who need them.

The CDC recommends placing infants on their backs on a firm surface in a crib or bassinet when they are laid down to sleep. Stuffed animals, blankets and loose bedding should not be in the crib.

For more information on safe sleep practices, visit the Mississippi SIDS and Infant Alliance website at www.ms-sids.org and the Mississippi Department of Human Services website at www.mdhs.ms.gov.

To participate in the Cribs for Kids program, contact your local county MDHS office or the state office at (601) 359-4136 and let them know you need a crib.

Contact Kate Royals at (601) 360-4619 or kroyals@gannett.com. Follow @KRRoyals on Twitter.