Sharing Similar Tragedies, Two Organizations Join Forces and Expand Safe Sleep Message to Include Air Permeable Sleep Surfaces

DETROIT, Oct. 24, 2016 -- The Molly Ann Gries Foundation is teaming up with Secure Beginnings to add lifesaving Air Permeable Sleep Surfaces to the current safe sleep message.  The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) currently has no satisfactory recommendations for parents whose infant begins to roll.

Molly Ann Gries

A photo accompanying this release is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/62349d87-a85c-442f-8b0b-2f51def3021e.

The Molly Ann Gries Foundation is a nonprofit organization created by parents, Meagen and Jeff Gries. Molly was a healthy ten-week-old who was put down for a nap in a Pack ‘n Play crib.  Molly rolled onto her belly and did not self-rescue. What was suspected as SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) was later determined by the coroner to be ‘positional asphyxiation.' 

Secure Beginnings is a manufacturer of revolutionary crib mattresses that allow an infant who is face down to breathe normally.  The three founders, including a pediatrician, all lost a loved one who had rolled in the middle of the night and was found face down on a standard crib mattress

The Back-to-Sleep Campaign helped decrease SIDS rates by 50 percent.  However, what is not known is that asphyxiation death rates rose. (http://www.cdc.gov/sids/data.htm) 

The Science Behind SIDS and Asphyxiation -

SIDS is not an illness. It is not even a syndrome.  SIDS is a cause of death (COD) given when no scientific evidence is available for a coroner or pathologist to make a determination.  Asphyxiation is a lack of oxygen or excess of carbon dioxide in the body. 

Past research reveals that some infants have low serotonin levels in the brain stem and the belief is that these infants may not respond – move their heads – if they are face down.  These babies continue to rebreathe their exhaled air which eventually suppresses their need to breathe, and they asphyxiate. (https://www.nih.gov/news-events/) 

Research by Dr. Peter Fleming and Dr. Daniel Rubens points to small cells in the inner ear of infants that could be damaged during birth.  Infants who have damage to these inner ear cells may lack the trigger to arouse or respond when exposed to an asphyxiating environment. (http://www.sidsguild.org/about-us/)

Air Permeable Crib Mattresses do not block the infant’s airway if they are face down, and they do not allow carbon dioxide (exhaled air) to accumulate, so an infant is not in danger of rebreathing harmful gasses.  “Losing your child is the worst possible thing a parent can go through,” said Meagan Gries. “Finding out it was preventable is just about unbearable.  It is our mission to help other families avoid the same heartache we've suffered.  We can't help but wonder if our life would be different today if Molly had been using a crib mattress that she could breathe through when she rolled face down.”

For more information or to support the Molly Ann Gries Foundation, please visit: http://www.mollyanngriesfoundation.org

To learn more about air permeable crib mattresses, visit:  http://www.securebeginnings.com

Contact:

Julie Andreae
[email protected]
586.219.7112
2699 Guoin Street, Suite 100
Detroit, MI 48207