Safe Sleep

Introduction

In 2011, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released undated guidelines for infant safe sleep. Specific recommendations included: infants should sleep alone (no bed-sharing); infants should sleep on their back; and infants should sleep in a crib or bassinet. Each year in Tennessee, nearly 600 infants die before reaching their first birthday and twenty percent of infant deaths in Tennessee are attributable to preventable unsafe sleep practices.1 Among those sleep-related infant deaths in Tennessee between the years of 2009-2011, 84% were not sleeping in a crib or bassinet, 68% were not sleeping alone and 46% were not sleeping on their back.1 

AAP also recommends that healthcare professionals endorse risk-reduction strategies as 98.7% of Tennessee births occur in hospitals.2 A study in 2001 showed that parents who witnessed exclusive back sleeping in a nursery were more likely to put their baby on their back at home.3 Currently all Tennessee OB facilities, as well as some other non-birthing hospitals, participate in the Safe Sleep initiative through the Tennessee Department of Health. To better assist you in providing safe sleep materials to your new parents and their families, the Tennessee Department of Health has free “Sleep Baby, Safe and Snug” board books for each birth at your facility, “ABC’s of Safe Sleep” materials, and recognition of participating hospitals on their website. For materials or to learn more, go to http://safesleep.tn.gov or contact Rachel Heitmann, Director of Injury Prevention and Detection, at rachel.heitmann@th.gov.

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Safe Sleep