MUNCIE – Officials in Delaware County hope parents will recognize the dangers of sleeping with their infants after four healthy babies died this year.

The Star Press reports the infants died because of co-sleeping – when parents share the same sleeping space as their children. It can lead to suffocation if a child gets wedged between cushions or a wall or is accidentally pinned beneath a parent who rolled over in his or her sleep.

Delaware County Coroner Scott Hahn said in those instances, the infant has only two or three minutes before the situation becomes fatal.

“It’s just horrible,” Hahn said. “It’s truly an accident. Nobody sets out to do it.”

The deaths may be accidental, but they’re still preventable. Delaware County Prosecutor Jeffrey Arnold said he’s willing to pursue felony charges of neglect for parents and caretakers who co-sleep.

“Definitely if someone was intoxicated or under the influence of drugs, coupled with co-sleeping, I would consider that blatant negligence,” Arnold said.

Some studies have shown co-sleeping can increase bonding between parents and children.

Stephanie Henry, an emergency-room nurse practitioner at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie, has been in the ER when two of the four co-sleeping-related deaths have come in since the start of 2012.

She said talking to the families after the infants were declared dead was devastating.

“It’s guilt, hysterical,” Henry said. “The look on someone’s face when you tell them that it was because they were sleeping with them, it’s just devastating to a family.”

New parents receive warnings about the dangers of co-sleeping.