A recent infant co-sleeping death in Milwaukee County should be a wake-up call for local residents, Kenosha County officials said.

“Milwaukee is on the front page because they had (several co-sleeping deaths this year),” said Julie McGuire, a social worker and child advocate for Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, who works in Kenosha.

“People think Milwaukee is so far away,” she added. “No. It’s the same problem here. It’s not just some bizarre phenomenon that’s going on in Milwaukee.”

Co-sleeping is defined as an infant sleeping with an adult or another person, even a child, commonly on a bed, couch or chair.

The practice, heralded by some as bonding family sleep, gained notoriety earlier this year after five children died in separate incidents in Milwaukee County.

Attention to the practice rose again last week after 6-day-old Ceianna Buchanan died, the third baby in her immediate family to die from co-sleeping, authorities said; her mother was charged for reckless homicide.

The deaths should inspire awareness campaigns throughout the state, McGuire said. Those efforts are already under way in Kenosha County.

“We’ve been at this hard for two years,” McGuire said. “Kenosha is ahead of the eight ball. This just reconfirms that we’re on the right track.”

10-year effort

The roots of educational efforts about co-sleeping in Kenosha County actually go back about 10 years, when local officials formed the Child Fatality Review Team.

Since 1999, a team of police, prosecutors, social workers and other officials have reviewed every child death in the county. The effort started after three children — ages 7 and 9 — drowned at Pennoyer Park, where the Pike River meets Lake Michigan.

An investigation showed a pattern of people who died as a result of being sucked into the water there. Investigators also found there were no signs warning of the danger.

The lesson was that authorities should review every child death, McGuire said.

“Not just the ones that look suspicious,” she said. “We need to treat every child fatality the same. ... You want to look at what caused the death, and if there is anything that we as a community can do to make things better.”

Safe Sleep

Perhaps that’s, in part, why the Safe Sleep program exists in Kenosha County.

The referral-based program focuses on infants to reduce sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, as well as unsafe sleep deaths, such as co-sleeping. The program also provides cribs for families who can’t afford them.

“It is the safest place for them to sleep,” said Bridget Cardinali, a public health nurse who runs the Kenosha County Division of Health program.

Cardinali recognized the temptation to cuddle up with an infant or small child, particularly if that child is fussy about going to sleep.

But, she said, babies should have their own sleep space. And any time parents or caregivers feel they’re going to fall asleep with a child, they should put that child to bed.

For babies under 6 months old, that bed should be a crib or basinette in the parents’ room; the danger of SIDS decreases after that age and the proximity to baby allows mom or dad to respond faster if there is a problem, Cardinali said.

Children should continue sleeping in cribs until they can climb out.

There is no specific age for that transition, but Cardinali said it often happens between 3 and 4 years old. Weight requirements for cribs and mattresses, which are different for every crib, also can help parents gauge when children should transition into a traditional bed.

‘Not one in a crib’

Statistics were not available for infant deaths specifically for 2009.

But over the last 10 years, McGuire said, the Child Fatality Review Team has examined at least 50 deaths, including three homicides, five accidents and 11 natural deaths from disease or disorder.

Another 31 deaths were unexplained or deemed sudden infant deaths.

Of those, McGuire said, “not one was in a crib.”

Five died from co-sleeping. Many others were alone in what public health officials consider inappropriate sleep environments, including six babies who died while on a couch.

Two others died while on the floor, two more in an adult bed, one in a swing, one in a carseat and another in a stroller.

The bottom line, McGuire said, is that infants and children are vulnerable when they are not sleeping on their backs in a crib. And everyone should be on guard.