NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) -
Metro police are sounding the alarm about a common practice among new parents: co-sleeping.
Co-sleeping is when parents share a bed with their newborn baby. Some new moms consider this bonding time, but it can turn deadly fast.
This year alone in Nashville, 19 infants died and 10 of those deaths are blamed on unsafe sleeping conditions.
The Tennessee Department of Health has a formula for keeping infants safe.
"They call it the ABCs which is make sure the child sleeps alone," said Capt. Gordon Howey from the Metro Police Department's youth services division. "That's always sleep alone. Second one is child on its back, so that is B ... and then C is a crib."
Police and the Department of Children's Services investigate each case and some parents have been charged with neglect. More often the rollover suffocations are considered accidental.
Families should know they can contact police for agency assistance to get safe cribs.
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