In 2014, 834 children under the age of 18 died, according to the annual Arizona Department of Health Child Fatality Review.
The report explores causes of death in order to identify ways to reduce the number of preventable deaths, such as drowning, suicide or sleep-related infant deaths.
Eighty-five infants died from Sudden Unexplained Infant Death or SU-ID. All but three of those deaths were caused by unsafe sleep environments. Many parents sleep with their babies. Some do it because the mother is nursing. Some can’t afford a crib and some do it because, in many cultures that’s what you do.
Mary Ellen Cunningham with DHS said, "Years ago, babies didn’t go in car seats. It became a culture change. This is our move now to make this a culture change, that every baby is put to sleep safely."
Cunningham said babies should sleep alone, on their backs and in a crib. Half of the babies who died were co-sleeping with adults or other children, according to the review.
