New Year’s Day is a day of celebration. A day for starting anew. We create resolutions to become help us be steadfast in reaching personal goals whether that’s to lose weight or stop smoking, or just be on time to work. We have a happy, fresh outlook on a new year.
But, there is a lurking danger following all those midnight celebrations. There is an increase in infant deaths on New Year’s Day. A 33% increase in infant deaths, in fact.
There is not a clear reason for these deaths. They are probably not all SIDS deaths since SIDS is a diagnosis of exclusion. (We don’t know what caused the death.) It could be because the parents have consumed too much alcohol, are impaired where they’re not able to make good parenting decisions. Maybe they put the baby on their belly for sleeping. Maybe the parents bring the baby to their bed, and with being impaired this causes a dangerous situation. Maybe parents are exhausted from lack of sleep from having an infant and then tried to stay up too late to celebrate.
The bottom line is parents of infants must make good decisions and safe arrangements for their infant before they decide to celebrate the new year. You could:
- Arrange for a responsible babysitter.
- Have a ‘designated driver’ for the baby, (one parent doesn’t drink alcohol)
- Don’t imbibe, if you can’t find a responsible person. It’s your baby, ultimately you must be responsible.
- Make plans with other parents to have an alcohol-free night. It’s easier to not drink when no one else is drinking.
Celebrating the New Year responsibly is a must when we’re parents. Imagine what a New Year it would be if it started with a preventable tragedy. When making your New Year’s plans, look at your infant and ask yourself, “How important is tying one on?”
