Three infants died last week in unrelated incidents after sleeping with their parents, according to State Police.The infants may have suffocated, though the State Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet determined the cause of death. The incidents took place in Madison, Canaan and Windsor.

The first death was reported on Sunday, Oct. 4 in Madison after a two month old girl was found dead in her father’s bed.  The baby had been placed there by her mother, according to a press release from the Maine Department of Public Safety.

The second incident occurred early Monday morning in Canaan, when a two month old boy died after sleeping with his mother in her bed. The third incident occurred early Wednesday morning in Windsor, when a five week old boy was found unresponsive after sleeping with his mother. He was later pronounced dead at Maine General Medical Center in Augusta.

It is unusual for three infants to die under similar circumstances within a four-day period, though no foul play is suspected in any of the cases, according to the State Police.  State Police detectives investigated the three deaths, which is standard in children’s deaths under the age of three.

There have been at least 30 similar deaths of infants in Maine this decade, according to a recent review conducted by the Department of Pediatrics at the Maine Medical Center in Portland.  The U.S. Consumer Product and Safety Commission and American Academy of Pediatrics warn parents not to place infants in adult beds, saying the practice increases the risk of suffocation. The Maine Center of Disease Control also strongly recommends against co-sleeping
or bed sharing with infants.