SASKATOON — Saskatchewan’s children’s advocate is pushing for provincewide guidelines on where newborns should sleep in hospitals.
Bob Pringle says he’d like to see a broader application of the Regina health region’s response to an infant death last March.
Cambria Tammie-Leigh Shuba stopped breathing when she was in bed with her mother, Amanda Brass, at Regina General Hospital.
The Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region reviewed the death and made six recommendations.
They include developing a policy for newborns sharing beds with parents and assessing how to handle babies with possible medical complications.
Pringle says he has written to Health Minister Don McMorris to encourage him to apply the findings to all health regions.
“Although the grief of the parents, their family and friends, and the health-care providers involved is great, it is my hope that comfort can be found in the knowledge that the review of this case and subsequent changes may help prevent future deaths,” Pringle said in a release Thursday.
He said his letter to McMorris encourages a broader application of the health region’s findings and recommendations “across all health regions, programming and facilities in the province.
“The more health-care professionals who are aware of infant safe sleeping principles and practices, the better informed parents and the public will be to make the important choices that will keep their children safe and healthy,” said Pringle.
The Regina review found that bed-sharing was one of the “potential contributing factors” in the death of baby Cambria.
Brass told a news conference in March that she had the infant in bed with her to nurse. Brass said the baby wasn’t interested in feeding so she asked a nurse if she should put her back in the bassinet. Brass said the nurse told her: “No, you guys are OK. You just go to sleep.”
Brass said she woke up about 45 minutes later to a nurse screaming, “She’s not breathing. She’s not breathing.”
The coroner’s office continues to investigate the incident, including the possibility that the baby was accidentally smothered or had a breathing problem.