After 12 infant deaths related to parents co-sleeping with their children were reported in Milwaukee County since mid-November, a state legislator is looking to criminalize co-sleeping while intoxicated.

Rep. Samantha Kerkman, R-Powers Lake, said at a public hearing Wednesday the Racine County District Attorney’s Office told her about the obstacles of prosecuting parents who co-habited a bed with their child while intoxicated.

“This doesn’t just happen in one particular county, this happens around the state,” Kerkman said. “If I can put out education to save one child, this would be one of the most rewarding bills I’ve ever worked on in the Legislature.”

The bill would not only criminalize co-sleeping while intoxicated by alcohol and drugs, but also require the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board to partner with a non-profit to create and distribute educational materials about the hazards of the practice.

In addition to reading criminal complaints from Kenosha and Milwaukee counties, Kerkman said there was a case in Texas where a woman killed not only her first child while co-sleeping but also her second.

“I want to give my DAs another tool in their tool box,” Kerkman said. “I don’t think every co-sleeping situation merits this.”

Fellow bill author Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, said under current law, DAs have to decide whether to charge parents with neglect in such cases.

Darling added the bill is not intended to ban co-sleeping, but instead focus on the deaths that occur when parents are co-sleeping with their small children.

After a recent trip to Wausau, Darling said many of the parents she spoke with were “sensitive” about co-sleeping.

Jason Jarzembowski, program director for perinatal pathology at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, said criminalizing parents will only put the issue “further underground.”

“Parents don’t admit to it,” he said. “Nobody will admit to it even when they are there with an older child. They know it’s a contentious issue.”

Jarzembowski added the bill is “reactive.” He said educating parents and caretakers about the hazards of co-sleeping is not only more proactive in preventing infant deaths but is also cost-effective.

Ninety percent of all infant deaths have multiple risk factors, Jarzembowski said, so by focusing on co-sleeping while intoxicated draws attention to only 20 percent of infant deaths that occur because of a parent’s intoxication.

Focusing solely on co-sleeping while intoxicated will show parents that it is OK to co-sleep in other situations, which is not the case, Jarzembowski said.

Sen. Leah Vukmir, R-Wauwatosa, Senate Health and Human Services committee chair, said she was surprised by Jarzembowski’s opposition to the bill. 

Community-based outreach as an effective way to prevent co-sleeping deaths is difficult, Vukmir said of Jarzembowki’s suggestion, because there is a lack of data proving whether it is effective or not.

Sen. Tim Carpenter, D-Milwaukee, said it would be difficult to oppose the bill because of its focus on infant deaths, but policymakers should find better ways to address co-sleeping than penalizing a parent. 

“How do we as policymakers get the word out that there are better cost-effective ways to prevent co-sleeping deaths instead of just having a punitive approach rather than incarcerating someone?” Carpenter said.