Black babies died in their sleep suddenly and unexpectedly at a rate 14 times higher than white babies in Cook County, according to a recent report by county health officials.
The report, produced by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office and Rush University System for Health, collected and analyzed data on sudden unexpected infant deaths in Cook County between 2019 and 2023. Sudden unexpected infant death has long been referred to as SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). Nearly all cases of sudden unexpected infant death happened during sleep, according to the new report.
Between 2019 and 2023, 208 infants in Cook County died suddenly and unexpectedly while sleeping, with 99 percent of those deaths occurring in unsafe sleeping conditions such as sleeping with another person or sleeping with soft bedding items, including pillows, blankets, or stuffed animals, the report found.
Health officials said many of the babies who died were born prematurely. Many of the mothers were young and lived in unstable housing, where they might not have had a crib and instead slept with their babies, said Dr. Olusimbo Ige, Chicago Department of Public Health commissioner. The deaths occurred most frequently in South and West Side communities.
About 83 percent of the babies died before they were six months old, with deaths peaking between one and two months of age.
Approximately 66 percent of the babies died while sleeping with another person, 93 percent died with soft bedding items in their sleep areas, and 16 percent died while temporarily away from their usual homes.
“This is really heartbreaking because these deaths are preventable,” said Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who stood before a backdrop of hundreds of yellow infant onesies representing the babies who lost their lives. Each onesie bore two tiny footprints and the initials of the infant who died.
Dr. Ige said, “I know what it is like to be a Black woman in America, so when I see data like that, it shakes me to my core. Babies are dying simply because mothers don’t have the information and the support that they need.”
Health officials said that although there’s a disparity between Black and white babies who die in their sleep across the country, it was especially pronounced in Cook County.
“We know that communities of color continue to bear the greatest burden and that women of color are three times more likely to die from complications during pregnancy than white women,” said Dr. Kiran Joshi, chief operating officer of the Cook County Department of Public Health.
Joshi said parents should not blame themselves for losing their children. He said the inequities in infant deaths stem from factors such as poverty, unstable housing, lack of access to health care, and systemic racism.
The number of sleep-related infant deaths dropped slightly in 2022 and 2023 in Cook County, according to the report, but Joshi emphasized that “one death is too many.”
County and health leaders emphasized that babies should sleep alone on their backs in a crib or bassinet.
“I know parents love their children,” said Dr. Kyran Quinlan of Rush. He said he has long been a pediatrician on the South and West Sides and was part of the team behind the study.
“Each of these deaths is a real tragedy,” Quinlan said. “If they knew how big a risk this is, they would do everything they could. There’s no way to know that, though, because you don’t hear about these deaths.”