MACON, Ga. — Kaitlyn Farris has gone through one of the worst events in life.
"We didn’t really have a rhyme or reason to think that anything was wrong," Farris said.
Farris' child Colt died on Nov. 3, 2020. Before going into birth, her doctors lost Colt's heartbeat.
As you can imagine, losing a child can cause terrible grief, and it is a grief that more and more parents in the U.S. are experiencing, according to new data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released Wednesday.
The report shows the infant mortality rate in 2021 was 5.44%. In 2022, it was 5.6%. That's the infant mortality rate increasing 3%.
Primary Pediatrics Dr. Lance Slade believes transitioning out of the pandemic has had a role to play in these numbers increasing.
"We've had a few years of COVID separation and getting back together you're seeing a lot more illnesses, so I think that would make a lot of sense of what could've happened last year because of the two years of separation kid's immune system went down and they didn't handle the illness as well," Slade said.
Among the demographics that observed increases: infants born pre-term, male infants, infants born to American Indian, Alaska Native, and White women, and infants born to women aged 25 to 29.
Slade said pregnant women can never be too careful.
"Soon as you know that you're pregnant go talk to someone and make sure you're getting your care as early as possible, so the more prenatal care you get the better outcome you're going to get for your child," Slade said.
Farris agreed with that.
She said expecting moms can protect their child by speaking up.
"Say 'Hey, I'm not feeling well, something's hurting, something's bothering me.' Not to just push it off and just say 'Oh, that's just pregnancy'. Sometimes that's a big issue 'Oh, it's just pregnancy', but it's not always just pregnancy," Farris said. "Something needs to be looked into."
To remember Colt, on Nov. 3 every year, Farris collects donations for kids in hospitals. You can check out the Amazon wishlist here to see what items she is collecting to remember her son, three years later.