A warning for new parents, you may be putting your baby in danger and not even know it.
The American Academy of Pediatrics just released alarming new information about babies and how you put them to sleep.
In their study of nearly 200 babies, researchers found that 91% of one-month-old babies were sleeping in environments that could be dangerous.
It’s something Amanda Saucedo knows all about.
“He was really sweet, he was my little tiny baby," she said, referring to her one-month-old son, Ben. There’s not a day that goes by, when she doesn’t think of him.
“Unlike my first son he like latched on, so he was like you know the dream baby."
That closeness led her to often sleep in bed with her baby.
“Unlike my older son, with Ben I took all of these extra precautions to practice so-called safe sleeping."
But it wasn't safe at all, one day while laying in bed breastfeeding, she fell asleep, not realizing she was suffocating him.
“I said this doesn't happen to me, this happens to other people. It's my fault, I know I shouldn't have brought him into bed with me," she recalled.
She's just one example of a major problem the study points out.
“There are thousands of cases in the country...you never know when this is going to happen, and this happens without a warning," said Dr. Abdulla Ghori, Director of Pediatrics at MetroHealth.
That study also found parents were putting their children to sleep with loose items like stuffed animals, and pillows not realizing the damage it could cause.
“Babies should laid on their back, the surface of the mattress should be firm, and there should be no loose objects inside the crib," said Ghori.
With that knowledge, Saucedo has now started a nonprofit to educate others, called Benny Bears.
“When we know better we do better...it can really happen to anybody...so I knew I had to do something.”
She continued to say the work she does with her organization, has also been a source of healing.
“I made been a promise at his funeral that his death wouldn't be in vain, and it’s my goal to keep that promise."
Saucedo also said she hopes to create a safe sleeping video and get legislation for it to be mandatory for parents to watch before they take their babies home from the hospital.
