Review of hazards associated with children placed in adult beds

Objectives: To identify and assess dangers associated with placing children younger than 2 years to sleep in adult beds. This article focuses on overl ying, wedging, and strangulation hazards and the relationship of these haza rds to children's sleeping environments. Design: A retrospective review and analysis of data collected by the US Con sumer Product Safety Commission on deaths of children younger than 2 years in standard adult beds, daybeds, and waterbeds. The review included inciden t data from January 1990 through December 1997. Results: The 8-year records showed a total of 515 deaths of children younge r than 2 years who were placed to sleep on adult beds. Of these deaths, 121 were reported to be due to overlying of the child by a parent, other adult , or sibling sleeping in bed with the child and 394 were due to entrapment in the bed structure. Most of these deaths seem to have resulted from suffo cation or strangulation caused by entrapment of the child's head in various structures of the bed. Conclusions: Placing children younger than 2 years to sleep in adult beds e xposes them to potentially fatal hazards that are generally not recognized by the parent or caregiver. These hazards include overlying by a parent, si bling, or other adult sharing the bed; entrapment or wedging of the child b etween the mattress and another object; head entrapment in bed railings; an d suffocation on waterbeds. Parents and caregivers should be alerted to the se avoidable hazards.