Manitoba should provide safe place to sleep for infants from poorer families, advocate says

Manitoba'sadvocate for children and youth wants the province to ensure every infant can sleep on a safe surface to try to eradicate unexpected deaths of children in their sleep.

Daphne Penrosesays one in four of those deaths occurred when a child didn'thave a safe place to sleep, such as a crib,according totheir investigation of 145 unexpected sleep-related deaths over a 10-year period.

Penrose, who released a new report on the subject Friday,found Indigenous infants who make up 57 per centof all sleep-related infant deaths but just 30 per cent of the province'slive births wereover-represented intheir analysis.

The Manitoba advocate for children and youthis asking the province to work with First Nations and Mtis governments to ensure any expectant parents and caregivers who cannot afford an appropriate sleeping surface for infants under 24 months have one.

Sherecommends a specific plan as well for First Nations communities.

"Infant safety is an issue about which all Manitobans ought to be concerned. That we have lost 145 infants over 10years in our province is a travesty. That most of those deaths may have been preventable is heartbreaking, and ought to be viewed as unacceptable by all of us," Penrose wrote in her report.

Half of the infants diedwhile sleeping on an adult mattress, the study says.

Her office chose toreviewsleep-related infant deaths after noticing an unexpected spike in 2018of deaths associated with unsafe sleeping environments, and a lack of recent scholarship on the issue.

Theadvocate reviewed more than 1,000 infant deaths in the last 10 years, in which 145 of those were deaths where unsafe sleep environments factored into the equation.

In each case where such information was available, one or more of theserisk factors were present at the time of death: bed-sharing, placing theinfant to sleep on an unsafe surface or in an unsafe position, objects in the sleeping environment, exposure to tobacco smoke and infant overheating.

In particular, 77 per cent of cases involved infants sleeping on an unsafe surface, 48 per centshowed signs of overheating and half the infants were exposed to tobacco smoke.

Penrose saidthese parents are putting their kids to bed with the best intentions.

"These are things that parents are doing out of love and kindness, and based on everything they've learned," she told a news conference only accessible through a Facebook live stream due to COVID-19 concerns.

The advocate also foundthe number of deaths was overrepresented in poorer neighbourhoods. Fifty-eight per cent of all sleep-related infants deaths occurred where the average household income was below $35,000, while a further 30 per cent of deaths occurred in areas whereaverage incomes were between $35,000 and $50,000 a year.

"Clearly more needs to be done to address the structuralinequality faced by families and communities, and which pose a risk to the health and well-being of infants," the report says.

Penrose also recommends the province to develop a public awareness campaign about the issue. There hasn't been a campaign in the decade, the report says.

Her office also wants the province tocreate adedicated smoking cessation program for expectantmothers, since smoke isanother of the risk factors.

Child and Family Services workers should be required to evaluate an infant's sleeping environment during face-to-face visits in the home, she said.

CFS should check sleepenvironment

Among the deaths where CFS was involved with the family, only 46 per cent had a safety assessment in the infant's home environment, the report says.

The current safety assessments do not consider whether asafe sleeping surface is available, the advocate's office said.

"When CFS is involved in a family, important opportunities are present to provide safe sleep information to expectant parents and to parents of newborn babies. The review of deaths uncovered a number of missed opportunities to ensure the safety of infants."

While a high percentage of sleep-related infant deaths occurred in families who were either receiving CFS services or had in the prior year, only a small number of these casesinvolved infants who were in CFS care when they died.

Families Minister Heather Stefansonsaid the province will be reviewing the advocate's recommendations in more detail in the coming weeks and months.

"Our hearts go out to every Manitoban who has suffered this loss. I want to thank the advocate's office for its research and dedication to the issues that affect children and families, and for sharing that work in reports such as this," she said.