CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- October is Infant Safe Sleep Awareness Month, and the child welfare agency in Illinois has advice for parents to help babies and infants sleep safely.
Deborah Lopez of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services said there are several ways to reduce the risk of suffocation when babies and infants sleep.
"Your baby should sleep alone (and) always place your baby on their back to sleep," Lopez said.
She added that babies and infants should never sleep in adult beds but in cribs with firm mattresses and tightly fitted sheets. She said keep pillows, stuffed animals and bumper pads out of cribs because they increase the risk of suffocation.
Lopez said last year the deaths of 143 children under the age of 1 in Illinois were caused by unsafe sleeping conditions. Sixy-one of those deaths were in Cook County.





