LONGVIEW — Unsafe sleeping conditions are a major risk factor for infant death, but not all families can afford safe cribs for their babies.
To combat infant deaths, the Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office is partnering with Cribs for Kids, a national nonprofit that provides cribs for families in need.
As part of the program, the coroner’s office is collecting donations through a portal linked on its website. The donations will be used to buy cribs at a discounted rate from Cribs for Kids. Residents in need of assistance can then apply to receive a free crib.
“This is a big thing for coroners because if we don’t support this, we end up getting (the babies), and that’s the last thing we want,” Coroner Dana Tucker said.
Tucker said she has had plans to partner with Cribs for Kids since around 2016, but was not able to get a full partnership set up before she left the county in 2019 to become chief deputy coroner in Island County.
“I just knew that I was going to get it up and going when I came back to Cowlitz,” she said.
After being elected Cowlitz County coroner in 2022, Tucker was able to begin the process last year, she said.
Cribs for Kids, based in Pennsylvania, promotes safe sleeping environments for infants by sharing educational materials and offering supplies including cribs to families in need.
Any donations to the office’s fundraiser will go straight to Cribs for Kids and will not be kept by her office, she said.
How to donate
The coroner’s office reported six infant deaths in 2024, Tucker said, though not all were sleep related.
In 2023, the office saw five infant deaths, most of which were caused by positional asphyxia — suffocation related to the child’s sleeping position, Tucker said. She added that most of the deaths in 2023 were younger, while those in 2024 had a wider age range.
The office reported four deaths in 2022.
It’s not clear why child deaths are increasing in the county, she said. There had been a decrease in infant deaths after information about safe sleeping practices became more widespread.
“I don’t know if the information isn’t getting out there anymore,” she said.
According to the Washington State Department of Health, there were 360 total infant deaths in the state in 2022.
The Department of Health tracks infant deaths by the county they lived in, even if they died in another county, Public Information Officer Mark Johnson said. County coroner’s offices, on the other hand, only track deaths that occur in their own counties, leading to a slight mismatch between the numbers.
Safe sleeping
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies should sleep on their backs on a firm surface that is not shared with anyone. Toys, soft bedding and other objects should be left out of the crib because they can pose a suffocation risk if they get near the baby’s face.
According to a February 2024 study published in the journal Pediatrics, in almost 60% of cases of sudden unexpected infant death, the infant was sleeping with another person. At least 76% had multiple unsafe sleeping factors, which could include position, extra objects in their sleeping area or sleeping on an unsuitable surface.
Sudden unexpected infant death is the label used when children younger than 1 year old die suddenly without an obvious cause before investigation. Causes can include sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, and accidental suffocation or strangulation in bed.
Family Promise of Cowlitz County, a nonprofit that targets family homelessness, often sees families struggling to get adequate supplies for babies, Executive Director Sara Wallace said. It coordinates with churches and other local groups in an attempt to address that need.
“Our goal is to let these families know where to go,” she said.
Wallace said she recently learned about Cribs for Kids at a local event, and plans to direct families to it as a resource in the future.
