WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Stopping SIDS

October 18, 2011

Laura and Kyle Maxwell miss their son.

"He was such a sweet baby," Laura Maxwell said.

They put a bumper in his crib thinking it would make him more secure. But the 7-week-old rolled into the corner of his crib.

"One of his nostrils was pressed up against the mattress and the other against the bumper pad," his mother explained.

"I grabbed him, turned him over and I just saw he had no life left in him," Kyle Maxwell said.

Sleep-related deaths are on the rise, so the American Academy of Pediatrics is updating its guidelines for keeping babies safe while they sleep, as well as protecting against Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. The group now says crib bumpers should never be used.

"Suffocation, strangulation and entrapment; those are the three major ways that babies can die with the bumper pads," said Dr. Rachel Moon, a pediatrician with the Children's National Medical Center.

Two-thousand babies die each year in sleep-related accidents. And another 2,500 die from SIDS. To protect against SIDS, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends women breast-feed their babies because it could lower the risk. So can having children vaccinated.

"Babies that get immunized are half as likely to die of SIDS," Moon said.

The updated guidelines also remind parents to put babies to sleep on their backs, not their stomachs. And they say that using a pacifier can also reduce the risk of SIDS.

It's been a year and half since the Maxwells lost their son.

"I knew nothing of the dangers of bumper pads," Laura Maxwell said. "To have actually used something that ultimately killed him, you know, emotionally kills me inside."

The Maxwells hope sharing their story will protect other families from their heartbreak.