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Missouri Bill Would Create Sleeping Regulations for Infants at Childcare Centers

Thorpe Obazee
/
Flickr

Legislators are sponsoring a bill in Missouri that would change the way infant care is handled at childcare facilities. The bill was developed after a child died at a daycare center in St. Louis County, under Senator Scott Sifton’s jurisdiction, and it is aimed at implementing stricter sleeping regulations for infants.

Sifton is sponsoring the bill with the hopes to raise awareness and prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS.

The bill would require the removal of extra bedding such as bumper pads, stuffed animals, blankets, pillows and quilts from an infant’s crib. It also would create a sleeping strategy where infants must be laid on their backs and on a firm surface while sleeping.

Nikki Reynolds, owner and director of Columbia’s End of the Rainbow childcare center, said that the newly proposed regulations will not greatly affect her business because they already have many of those safety measures in place.

“We don’t use anything without the parents’ permission,” Reynolds said. “If they are swaddled or have something in the crib with them the parents have to provide me with a doctor’s note saying that it’s okay.”

Various other childcare facilities have adopted similar policies, especially after what some say has been an increase in infant mortality rates. Director of Columbia’s Brightstart Academy Whittney Good said that she thinks the regulations the bill proposes are a necessary measure.

“With the SIDS increase I’ve been seeing, some parents aren’t aware of the suffocation issues,” Good said.

Good also suggested that new parents take classes to learn safety issues and what is appropriate to keep in a child’s crib. Good said that although the intentions are positive, the bill may be overstepping boundaries.

“I think it should be left up to the parents and their discretion of how they want their children sleeping,” Good said.

The bill is currently waiting to be heard on the house floor. 

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