By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - About one in six
sudden infant deaths may be linked to their mothers' heavy
alcohol use during or soon after pregnancy, according to a new
study from Australia. Researchers found those deaths may result
from babies being exposed to alcohol in the womb and from
alcohol-using mothers creating hazardous environments for the
babies after birth. "One of the morals of the story is that
parents should be very careful about drinking alcohol,
especially if you're a single parent because there is no other
parent to back you up," said David Phillips, a professor at the
University of California, San Diego, who has studied alcohol-
related infant deaths but wasn't involved in the new research.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
defines sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) - also known as
sudden unexpected infant death - as the death of a child under
one year old with no obvious cause. Approximately 4,500 infant
deaths fall into this category every year i