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 Place the baby on his or her back on a firm sleep surface such as a crib or bassinet with a tight-fitting sheet. 
 
 Avoid use of soft bedding, including crib bumpers, blankets, pillows and soft toys. The crib should be bare. 
 
 Share a bedroom with parents, but not the same sleeping surface, preferably until the baby turns 1 but at least for the first six months. Room-sharing decreases the risk of SIDS by as much as 50 percent. 
 
 Avoid baby's exposure to smoke, alcohol and illicit drugs. 
 
 
 
 Offer a pacifier at nap time and bedtime. 
 
 Do not use home monitors or commercial devices, including wedges or positioners, marketed to reduce the risk of SIDS. 
 
 Infants should receive all recommended vaccinations. 
 
 Supervised, awake tummy time is recommended daily to facilitate development. 
 
 ​San Francisco, CA -- Infants should sleep in the same bedroom as their parents – but on a separate surface, such as a crib or bassinet, and never on a couch, armchair or soft surface -- to decrease the risks of sleep-related deaths, according to a new policy statement released by the American Academy of Pediatrics. SIDS and Other Sleep-Related Infant Deaths: Updated 2016 Recommendations for a Safe Infant Sleeping Environment, " draws on new research and serves as the first update to Academy policy since 2011.Recommendations call for infants to share their parents' bedroom for at least the first six months and, optimally, for the first year of life, based on the latest evidence.The policy statement and an accompanying technical report will be released Monday, Oct. 24, at the AAP National Conference & Exhibition in San Francisco. The report, to be published in the November 2016 issue of Pediatrics (online Oct. 24), includes new evidence that supports skin-to-skin care for newborn infants; addresses the use of bedside and in-bed sleepers; and adds to recommendations on how to create a safe sleep environment."We know that parents may be overwhelmed with a new baby in the home, and we want to provide them with clear and simple guidance on how and where to put their infant to sleep," said Rachel Moon, MD, FAAP, lead author of the report. "Parents should never place the baby on a sofa, couch, or cushioned chair, either alone or sleeping with another person. We know that these surfaces are extremely hazardous."Experts will present the updated policies during a news conference at 10:15 a.m. PST Oct. 24 during the national conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The news conference will be video-recorded and available for viewing afterward. More details are included at the end of this release.Approximately 3,500 infants die annually in the United States from sleep-related deaths, including sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS); ill-defined deaths; and accidental suffocation and strangulation. The number of infant deaths initially decreased in the 1990s after a national safe sleep campaign, but has plateaued in recent years.AAP recommendations on creating a safe sleep environment include:Skin-to-skin care is recommended, regardless of feeding or delivery method, immediately following birth for at least an hour as soon as the mother is medically stable and awake, according to the report.Breastfeeding is also recommended as adding protection against SIDS. After feeding, the AAP encourages parents to move the baby to his or her separate sleeping space, preferably a crib or bassinet in the parents' bedroom."If you are feeding your baby and think that there's even the slightest possibility that you may fall asleep, feed your baby on your bed, rather than a sofa or cushioned chair," said Lori Feldman-Winter, MD, FAAP, member of the Task Force on SIDS and co-author of the report."If you do fall asleep, as soon as you wake up be sure to move the baby to his or her own bed," she said."There should be no pillows, sheets, blankets or other items that could obstruct the infant's breathing or cause overheating."While infants are at heightened risk for SIDS between the ages 1 and 4 months, new evidence shows that soft bedding continues to pose hazards to babies who are 4 months and older.Other recommendations include: 
 
 The AAP recommends that doctors have open and nonjudgmental conversations with families about their sleep practices. Media outlets and advertisers may also play a role in educating parents by following safe sleep recommendations when presenting images and messages to the public. 
 
 
 
 "We want to share this information in a way that doesn't scare parents but helps to explain the real risks posed by an unsafe sleep environment," Dr. Moon said. "We know that we can keep a baby safer without spending a lot of money on home monitoring gadgets but through simple precautionary measures." 
 
 
 
 The news conference will be held from 10:15 a.m.- 11 a.m. PST on Oct. 24 in Room 125, Moscone Center North, 730 Howard St, San Francisco, CA 94103. Speakers are: 
 
 Fern R. Hauck, MD, MS, FAAP, co-author of the AAP policy statement, "SIDS and Other Sleep-Related Infant Deaths: Updated 2016 Recommendations for a Safe Infant Sleeping Environment" 
 
 Lori Feldman-Winter, MD, MPH, FAAP, liaison from the AAP Section on Breastfeeding to the AAP Task Force on SIDS and co-author of the report 
 
 Samuel Hanke, MD, FAAP, founder, Charlie's Kids Foundation. 
 
 Catherine Spong, MD, Acting Director for the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 
 
 The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 66,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. For more information, visit www.aap.org ; Follow us on Twitter @AmerAcadPeds. ||||| UPDATE, 7/10/2017: Nearly a week after losing her 7-month-old son Sloan, after he got tangled in his crib blanket, mom Jordan DeRosier spoke to People about the tragic accident. "I have a lot of guilt. What could I have done better? Could I have saved him? I will never be able to shake the feeling that there was something more I could have done to prevent his death," DeRosier said. 
 
 DeRosier made Sloan's cause of death public in a Facebook post, which has since been deleted, with hopes that it would shed light on the dangers of crib blankets. "That's really the only thing giving us comfort right now. We've gotten thousands of messages from parents saying that after reading about our story, they took blankets out of cribs." 
 
 But she has also received negative reactions, and has now made her Facebook private. "More and more people started to say hateful, hurtful things," she wrote in her latest post. "I started getting messages and comments that made me physically sick to read. It is so unfortunate that people think grief should fit their guidelines, that because my child died I cannot talk about him. My son's life mattered. His story matters." 
 
 ORIGINAL, 7/6/2017: After a tragic accident, one grieving mom is opening up about the dangers of having blankets and other objects in a young child's crib. 
 
 Washington mom Jordan DeRosier took to social media to express her emptiness after she suddenly lost her seven-month-old Sloan on July 3. While she originally refrained from posting the cause of death, she shared her heart-wrenching experience after critics began blaming vaccines; Sloan had passed away after getting caught in his blanket overnight. 
 
 "I had not wanted to explain the detailed circumstances of his death because of my guilt and the fear of condemnation from others. But I will not allow anyone to try and place blame where it does not belong," she wrote in a Facebook post that has since been deleted. 
 
 "He was last laid down to bed with this blanket made by his great-great grandmother, and one other blanket, a grey one he had been attached to since birth. They took the grey one he had been found with his head in. He had pulled it through the crib rails somehow and gotten himself stuck in it. You never think it will happen to you. You never think it will be your baby." 
 
 DeRosier finished her message, by urging parents to learn from her "world-shattering mistake." 
 
 "Please do not put your babies to bed with a blanket. Please. He was 7 months old, I thought because he was crawling, standing on his own, and climbing, that he would be fine with a blanket. This is the face of immense, unfathomable grief, the face of longing, of heartbreak, of self inflicted GUILT. I will NEVER stop feeling responsible. I will relive this for the rest of my life knowing EXACTLY what I could have done differently." 
 
 In a statement to GoodHousekeeping.com, DeRosier said that she hopes Sloan's story educates others about crib safety. 
 
 "Sloan was a light in the life of all who knew him, he was an absolute dream baby. It helps us to know that he is living on in the hearts of people around the world. We have received hundreds of thousand of comments and messages letting us know that his story has already saved the lives of so many other babies. His life was far too short, but his purpose is now so clear," she said. 
 
 Her words certainly serve as a warning. Approximately 3,500 infants die annually in the United States from sleep-related deaths, including sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS); ill-defined deaths; and accidental suffocation and strangulation, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). 
 
 The Good Housekeeping Institute's Chief Technologist Rachel Rothman says bare is best when it comes to you baby's crib. "Nothing should be in the crib except the baby and a tight-fitting firm mattress and fitted sheet," she explains. "Soft objects, loose bedding or any items that could cause entrapment, suffocation or strangulation should be out of the baby's sleep area including pillows, comforters, blankets, toys, bumper pads or anything that attaches to the crib slats." 
 
 Both Rothman and DeRosier's warnings mirror the AAP's recommendations. They suggest doing the following to create a safe sleep environment for babies: 
 
 Place the baby on his or her back on a firm sleep surface such as a crib or bassinet with a tight-fitting sheet. 
 
 Avoid use of soft bedding, including crib bumpers, blankets, pillows and soft toys. 
 
 Share a bedroom with parents, but not the same sleeping surface, preferably until the baby turns one but at least for the first six months. Room-sharing decreases the risk of SIDS by as much as 50%. 
 
 Avoid baby's exposure to smoke, alcohol and illicit drugs.
– A devastated mother took to social media to discuss the painful details surrounding her baby's death after critics began speculating that vaccines were to blame, Good Housekeeping reports. "To those who keep commenting and messaging trying to blame vaccines for our sons death—stop," Jordan DeRosier wrote on Facebook Tuesday, the day after the 7-month-old's death, which she had posted about on social media. "Initially I had not wanted to explain the detailed circumstances of his death because of my guilt and the fear of condemnation from others. But I will not allow anyone to try and place blame where it does not belong." DeRosier, who is well-known in the handmade and small shops communities, went on to explain that little Sloan was put to bed for the final time with two blankets. He somehow pulled one of those blankets through the rails of his crib and got stuck in it, leading to his death. In another gut-wrenching post, DeRosier told the story of how she found Sloan, who was the family's rainbow baby after two miscarriages and fertility treatments, the following morning when she went to wake him up, one of the blankets wrapped around his head. Paramedics couldn't save him, but DeRosier decided to share the details in an effort to save other parents the same grief: "Please do not put your babies to bed with a blanket," she writes. "I thought because he was crawling, standing on his own, and climbing, that he would be fine with a blanket. ... I will NEVER stop feeling responsible. I will relive this for the rest of my life knowing EXACTLY what I could have done differently." The post has been shared more than 13,000 times, and the story is being picked up widely in the media, with many outlets pointing to the AAP's safe sleep guidelines for infants in an effort to spread awareness. A YouCaring fundraiser has been set up for the family.