Experts say infant deaths from unsafe sleep are an epidemic

By: Erik Waxler ABC Action News

TAMPA, Fla. — Baby Bellamy is ready for Halloween.

She’s 11 months old, and Melissa Garitta said she is loving every bit of being a first-time mom.

“Just watching those milestones. Seeing her grow from that first smile to those giggles, eating for the first time solid food to now crawling and pulling herself up,” said Garitta, who also works at Tampa Family Health Centers.

Garitta said when she first brought Bellamy home, she knew the basics of safe sleeping but learned more along the way.

“You know, you are overwhelmed. You’ve got this brand new baby and being reassured that as long as our baby is on her back, alone in the crib, we knew that she was safe,” said Garitta.

The Children’s Board of Hillsborough County says 198 infants have died in the last nine years from unsafe sleep.

That can mean suffocation from blankets or pillows or co-sleeping in their parents’ bed.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says the number one cause of …