Suffocation is a common cause of death among infants, toddlers, and young children. Suffocation can happen very easily and it can occur in a wide variety of situations. Deaths have resulted when children put plastic bags over their head or when they have become tangled up in dry-cleaning bags. Children have suffocated when they were placed in waterbeds, and everything from toy boxes to snow tunnels are potential suffocation hazards.

Keep in mind the following tips to help prevent suffocation:

• Keep any type of plastic, nylon, or cloth bags away from children. Deaths have resulted when children have pulled dry-cleaning bags from hanging clothes stored in closets. Children have suffocated when they put the bags over their head and could not remove them. This kind of situation can happen surprisingly fast. There are warnings on the bags about suffocation; They are there for a reason.

• Keep plastic garbage bags out of the reach of children. Remember to safely store the bags that you keep in the garage for yard work.

• If you live in an area that gets snow, and if you have a steep roof, do not let your children play underneath the eaves. Snow may slide off the roof and bury a child. If you need to shovel snow off your roof, keep the children indoors and out of the way. When the shoveled snow hits the ground, it lands with a surprising amount of force, enough to break a child’s neck.

• If you children are making snow tunnels, make sure the tunnels are sound and cannot collapse on them. If there is any doubt, don’t let the children play in them or destroy them.

• There have been many suffocation deaths involving waterbeds. In most instances the child was lying face down. Infants should sleep on a hard, flat surface.

• The head of an infant can be buried in the deep folds of fluffy bed clothes or rugs. The bedding covers a child’s mouth and nose. Children may even die from suffocation in this manner

• Bean-filled cushions, especially those that resemble a large bean bag, present a real danger to infants. A suffocation arises when a an infant is face down on these cushions. The weight of an infant’s head causes an indentation in the cushion’s surface and the child may not be able to lift her head high enough to breathe freely.

• "Overlying deaths" happen when an infant or child is pinned beneath beneath another person and suffocation results. In some cases, an unconscious or sleeping parent, or a sibling caused the situation. Careless alcohol consumption and/or the use of other drugs while caring for a child can increase the chance of this happening.