A doctor has sent strong warning to parents to stop letting their babies fall asleep on their chests as the trend grows.
Illustrative photo
A doctor has put out a warning to parents who let their baby sleep on their chest after tragically losing his own son.
Dr Sam Hanke has taken up the cause after noticing a trend of famous dads posting images of themselves with their infant children perched soundly asleep on their chest.
Despite being a cute image, Dr Hanke knows only too well how dangerous it can be.
In 2010 he was lying on the sofa while his baby son Charlie slept on his chest. A few minutes later Dr Hanke himself fell asleep, only to wake up to every parent’s worst nightmare.
‘A couple hours later I woke up and Charlie was gone,’ he told Fatherly.com.
Charlie’s death from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) has spurred Dr Hanke and his wife to launch Charlie’s Kids, a foundation which aims to educate parents on the safest way to let their baby sleep.
The foundation points out that many babies die every year due to sleeping with their parents – usually because the baby falls off the parent’s chest or because the sleeping adult rolls over and suffocates the baby.
Aside from celebrities hoping for a good Instagram picture, many mothers comment that at times the only way to get a baby to sleep is by holding him or her to your chest.
However Charlie’s Kids urges parents to always put babies to sleep in crib, whether they are napping or going to bed, and tells parents not to ‘sleep with your baby on a shared sleep service’.
Here is a list of dos and don’ts safe sleeping for babies from Charlie’s Kids:
Via Metro UK