Social media blamed for unsafe sleeping practices that kill babies

Province's child death review committee urges parents to follow scientific advice, even if hundreds of millions of moms and dads don't

Article content An alarming number of New Brunswick infants have died due to unsafe sleeping practices, with authorities pointing the finger at social media as a culprit. The province’s child death review committee and the office of the chief coroner released a report Monday stating that over the last five years, 20 infants in New Brunswick have died when unsafe sleeping practices were a contributing factor or direct contributor to the tragedies. The report blames social media for promoting a worldwide practice – babies sleeping in the same bed or sofa with their parents – rather than following the recommendations of Canadian health experts.

The issue in question is the alarming numbers of New Brunswick infants that die due to unsafe sleeping practice. New Brunswick Child Death Review Committee They say the safest place for sleeping infants is in their own cribs, placed on their backs. Emily Caissy, the committee chairperson and the province’s deputy chief coroner, told reporters on Monday too many parents are relying on social media opinion, rather than scientific research.

“Some of that advice is not found in any kind of research,” she said from Moncton in a press conference by Zoom. “Although well intended, sometimes it doesn’t provide good and solid information.” The report was unambiguous in its findings.

“The issue in question is the alarming numbers of New Brunswick infants that die due to unsafe sleeping practice, or where unsafe sleeping practice is deemed a contributing factor,” states the report, dated March 26 but only released by the provincial government on Monday. “One thing that the committee could not ignore is the influence of social media in today’s culture,” it states. “Social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram amplified narratives portraying co-sleeping as natural, bonding, and convenient.

These are in contrast with Canadian health guidelines.” Of the 20 deaths, 16, or 80 per cent, were directly attributable to unsafe sleeping practices, the report says. The youngest case reviewed was a six-day-old infant, the oldest a child of 18 months.

But the victims were overwhelmingly early infants. A one-and-a-half-year-old was considered an outlier and removed to calculate the average age of death of the babies, making the average age at the time of death just short of three months old. Social workers with the Department of Social Development were involved with the families of 10 of the babies who eventually died, half the total.

But the