KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. (WATE) — The Knox County Regional Forensic Center and Knox County Health Department are urging parents to use safe sleep practices as the number of infant deaths increased in East Tennessee during 2025, caused by what officials believe are unsafe sleep practices.
From 2024 to 2025, the regional forensic center saw a 71 percent increase in sleep-related deaths. The center explained that positional asphyxia, which is caused by overlay or smothering, caused 24 deaths in 2025, which is an increase from 14 the year before.
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“It’s a heartbreaking reality and the Knox County Regional Forensic Center is seeing an increase in the number of babies dying from sleeping with a loved one or incorrectly in their cribs,” the forensic center wrote in a release.
According to a Tennessee Health Department report focusing on 2023 birth outcomes found that the state has an overall infant mortality rate that is 16 percent higher than the national average. The Knox County Regional Forensic Center pointed out that although most infant deaths accounted for in that report were tied to medical conditions, unsafe sleeping practices were a significant factor in infant deaths. Of those sleep-related deaths, the forensic center explained that 4-in-5 were “preventable” and the remaining non-preventable, sleep-related deaths were connected to pregnancies…