Safe Sleep Hawaii is a new program that aims to reduce sleep-related infant deaths in Hawaii, as reported by KHON2.
“The sleep-related deaths, if you took away prematurity and first week of life and all the congenital malformations, sleep-related infant deaths are the number-one cause of death in Hawaii,” said Dr. Bob Pantell, Medical Director of the Kapiolani Child Protection Center.
It’s not just from babies being put to sleep on their stomach, but also infants are dying as a result of co-sleeping.
“If you put a seven-pound baby in between two parents, it really is similar to you and I getting in bed between a large hippo and small elephant,” Pantell said.
