Florida’s First Coast has seen a marked increase in an already-high infant mortality rate.
A report released Tuesday by the Northeast Florida Healthy Start Coalition shows infant deaths rising almost 19% over the past five years. That’s despite a decline in deaths from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS.
Some 6.4% of all infant deaths in Northeast Florida — Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties — are due to sleep-related issues, according to data released this month. That’s higher than the national average of 5.5% and above Florida’s 6%.
More than 3,500 babies younger than 1 year old die in sleep-related incidents nationally each year, health officials say.
Medical experts, child safety advocates and law enforcement in Northeast Florida launched an effort this month to educate parents about the safest way to put infants to sleep.
“Alone is the best advice,” said Faye Johnson, CEO of the Northeast Florida Healthy Start Coalition. “That doesn’t mean that the baby is by themselves per se, as long as it is in a safe environment — in a crib, alone on their back without any items in the bed — any stuffed animals and stuff like that. It could be in the family’s bedroom, pushed next to the bed, and not in the bed with the family.”
