LOS ANGELES, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Health authorities launched a "Safe Sleeping Day" in Los Angeles on Friday in a bid to promote the practice of safe sleeping.

    Safe sleeping means placing babies in a crib instead of in their bed, child safety advocates said.

    Recent surveys show that 77 percent of parents in Los Angeles County co-sleep with their infants, said Cynthia Harding, the Los Angeles County Public Health Department's Director for Maternal Child and Adolescent Health.

    In 2006-07, 86 babies in Los Angeles County suffocated while sharing a bed with adults, according to coroner's reports compiled by the Interagency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect (ICAN).

    Deanne Tilton Durfee, executive director of ICAN, said parents of newborns should be required to have cribs or side-sleepers before their babies can be released from hospitals, just as they must have special car seats for babies.

    "ICAN is making a plea to various retailers to offer discounts or donations for side-sleepers or cribs for families who may place the baby with them in bed because this is the only surface they have," she said. "Make sure that these side-sleepers and cribs are available to them as car seats are."

    Durfee refuted suggestions that babies are meant to be with their parents, and that sleeping together fosters bonding and encourages breastfeeding.

    It's not worth the risk, Durfee said, adding that "We're talking about tiny helpless babies who can't walk or talk or call 911, and can't lift their heads out from under a pillow, a blanket, or you."

    Dr. Carol Berkowitz, former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, suggested that parents who cannot afford a crib use a laundry basket instead.

    She offered the following safe sleeping tips for infants:

    -- place babies on their backs for sleeping;

    -- keep a baby's sleep area close to, but separate from, where others sleep;

    -- place babies on a firm sleep surface; and

    -- keep soft objects, like toys and loose bedding, away from a baby's sleep area.

    City Councilman Richard Alarcon, who has a 16-month-old daughter, called co-sleeping "a very, very dangerous thing to do."

    "As the father of an infant, I am well aware of the desire to be close to your child, to protect them and shield them from danger," Alarcon said. "But sometimes, what we think is protecting them is actually putting them in harm's way. Sleeping in the same bed as an infant can be fatal."