DETROIT – After a hidden camera investigation into what store employees are telling customers about sleep safety for babies ((see our story)), Ruth to the
Rescue spent some time with a pediatric expert getting advice on crib safety.
Kristen Pelshaw is a nurse and the chair of the Beaumont Health System's Infant Sleep Task Force. It is her mission to show parents, grandparents, and all caregivers, how to keep babies safe while they sleep.
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"I wouldn't want to have somebody have something happen to them, where they could never forgive themselves for something they would have know about," Pelshaw said.
Changing the Culture
When it comes to safety, cribs look very different than what many of us grew up with, or used with our children.
If you are using a baby bumper, or your baby's crib is filled with blankets, toys, and stuffed animals, it's time to update your safety routine. Kristen
Pelshaw of the Beaumont Health System's Infant Sleep Task Force says stuffed animals, toys, pillows, and thick blankes can be dangerous because
they can cause suffocation.
She also warns all caregivers about baby bumper pads that go along the sides of the crib.
"A baby bumper pad, the thickness of that, there's not any breathability to it, so if the baby does move and gets stuck, so the entrapment, or has its face up against here and isn't able to rescue itself on its own, could pose a hazard for suffocation, " said Pelshaw.
Pelshaw says all that should be in the crib is a fitted sheet, the baby, and it's sleepwear.
Here are several links to other websites for more information on sleep safety: