SANDPOINT — Mayor Shelby Rognstad proclaimed October as Sandpoint Safe Infant Sleep Awareness Month to raise awareness for preventable sleep related infant deaths, and to encourage infant safe sleep practices, so that no parent will have to endure the tragedy of a baby death.

In Wednesday’s council meeting, Mayor Shelby Rognstad made a proclamation making October Safe Infant Sleep Awareness Month which was requested by Liz Montgomery, the executive director of the Northwest Infant Survival and SIDS Alliance (NISSA).

NISSA is a statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to providing infant safe sleep education, bereavement support services and creating community awareness around preventing sleep related infant deaths.

Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID) is a term used to describe the sudden and unexpected death of a baby less than 1 year old in which the cause was not obvious before investigation, said Rognstad. SUID remains the number one cause of infant death between the ages of 28 days and one year, Rognstad said.

He said, evidence-based research has proven that babies will sleep safest with a when they are in a smoke free environment, in a crib alone

According to the research, babies ought to be on a firm crib mattress with a fitted crib sheet, on their backs, using no crib bumper pads, pillows, blankets, quilts, or stuffed animals and toys, said Rognstad.

Liz Montgomery, who introduces herself as a mother of two, was there to accept the proclamation and spoke afterward.

“My son Mason, will always be five and a half months old,” she said. “My son died 19 years ago, due to an unsafe sleep accident at a babysitter's house. He was asleep on a couch with a heavy blanket and rolled into the back of the couch and suffocated.”

Montgomery said that the death was labeled SUID at the time, but Mason’s death is now known as preventable due to suffocation. She said she has dedicated her life to ensuring other families do not have to endure this heart wrenching experience.

“SUID kills more babies than guns, opioids and suicide combined,” said Montgomery. “Last year 3,500 babies died last year due to SUID.”

90% of infant deaths between one month to 12 months were preventable. Over 50% of these deaths happened while infants were sharing the same sleep surface with an adult, she said.

Idaho State Vital Statistics, Health District 1, which includes Bonner County has the highest SUIDS rate in the entire state, said Montgomery. For every 100,000 infants born in Health District 1, 107 will die of a sudden unexpected infant death compared to 74 infants per 100,000 live births in the state.

In 2020, Bonner County experienced an alarming increase in SUID deaths, said Montgomery. NISSA partners with the Bonner County coroner and Bonner General Health. They provide training at no cost along with new portable cribs and sleep sacks for families.

“We pride ourselves in spearheading this proclamation in hopes to eliminate preventable sleep related deaths in our community, and to bring awareness to the need for bereavement and support to those affected by pregnancy, or childbirth,” she said.

For more information go online to nwsids.org.