SIDS Awareness Month

Promote safe sleep and reduce the risk of SIDS

October is Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Awareness Month. Help us spread the word about safe sleep practices, help educate families about prevention strategies, and support families that have been impacted by SIDS.

Educating Families & Reducing Risks

Preventing Sleep-Related Infant Mortality

Sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, is defined as the sudden death of an infant younger than 1 year old that does not have a known cause. SIDS is one of the leading causes of infant mortality. To help reduce the risk of sleep-related infant mortality, remember the ABCs of safe sleep: Alone, on their Back, in a Crib.

Explore a valuable collection of tools and resources from the AAP designed for pediatricians and healthcare professionals to offer education and guidance to parents and caregivers about infant safe sleep.

NICHQ INitiatives

Our Safe Sleep Work

The use of a fair and impartial lens is imperative in the work of making breastfeeding and safe sleep a national norm. We’re grateful to have insight from a representative team of experts and people with lived experience from different backgrounds on these project-related breastfeeding and safe sleep initiatives.

Community-Centered Hospital Initiative (CCHI)

The Community-Centered Hospital Initiative (CCHI) centers communities to uplift their capacity as leaders in improving perinatal and infant health by recognizing their expertise and building on their existing practices and processes.

Learn more

National Action Partnership to Promote Safe Sleep Improvement and Innovation Network (NAPPSS-IIN)

NAPPSS-IIN is an initiative to make infant safe sleep and breastfeeding the national norm by aligning stakeholders to test safety bundles in multiple care settings to improve the likelihood that infant caregivers and families receive consistent, evidence-based instruction about safe sleep and breastfeeding.

Learn more

New York State Perinatal Quality Collaborative (NYSPQC) Projects

A set of projects focused on providing the best and safest care for women and infants in New York State by collaborating with birthing hospitals, perinatal care providers and other key stakeholders to prevent and minimize harm.

Learn more

Safe Sleep Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network (CoIIN) to Reduce Infant Mortality

An initiative to decrease the instances of sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) rates and reduce racial disparities in sleep-related deaths.

Learn more

Spread the Word

SIDS Awareness Month Social Media Toolkit

In October and beyond, infant caregivers and service and healthcare providers can encourage safe infant sleep and help raise awareness about ways to reduce the risk of SIDS by using this toolkit created by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

SIDS Awareness Month Toolkit

Sharable resources from NICHD’s Safe to Sleep® campaign

Download the Kit

Publications

Community-based approaches to infant safe sleep and breastfeeding promotion: a qualitative study

A qualitative study to examine community-level infant safe sleep and breastfeeding promotion approaches

Though breastfeeding is a protective factor against sudden unexpected infant death, motivations to breastfeed often couple with unsafe infant sleep practices. Racial/ethnic disparities are present in sudden unexpected infant death, accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed, and breastfeeding. The study aimed to investigate the phenomenon of community-level providers promoting infant safe sleep (ISS) and breastfeeding in vulnerable communities.

Findings

We identified four themes: gaps in education and dissemination, relationship building and social support, working with clients’ personal circumstances and considerations, and tools and systems. Findings support embedding risk-mitigation approaches in safe sleep education, improved provider-patient relationship building, and the provision of ISS and breastfeeding supportive material resources with educational opportunities. Community collaboration is needed to address organizational capacity limitations in promoting ISS and breastfeeding and can inform community-level provider approaches.

Read More
Community-based approaches to infant safe sleep and breastfeeding promotion: a qualitative study

NICHQ Insights

Reading List for SIDS Awareness Month

At NICHQ, we are committed to making infant safe sleep and breastfeeding the national norm. Check out our insights to learn how you can support this initiative.

View all insights

It’s Past Time to Prevent SIDS and Sleep-Related Infant Deaths

In the U.S., Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), suffocation and other sleep-related causes claim approximately 3,600 babies every year. That number translates to nearly 165 unfilled kindergarten classrooms. And while research shows that many of these deaths are preventable, they still persist. Doing better by American families starts by identifying what’s working and outlining opportunities…

Read more

It Takes a Community to Save Babies

While sleep-related infant deaths are a public health issue across population groups, marked racial disparities exist: American Indian, Alaskan Native and non-Hispanic black babies are most likely to die from sleep-related causes, and face the highest rates of Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths (SUID). Eliminating these disparities requires doing more to raise awareness about infant safe…

Read more

How Can Hospitals Reduce Sleep-Related Infant Deaths? 

“Sleep-related infant deaths in the counties we serve are twice as high as the rest of the state,” says Stacie LeBlanc, BSN, RN, IBCLC, lead lactation consultant at Christus Southeast Texas St. Elizabeth Hospital. “Due to these alarming statistics, we felt a sense of urgency to join a national safe sleep improvement initiative. By teaching families…

Read more

NAPPSS-IIN Public Media National Action Team Activity: Safe Infant Sleep Registry

Introduction Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID), or sleep-related infant death, is the single leading cause of death for infants between 1 month and 1 year of age. Every year, about 3,500 healthy babies die in their sleep, and their families suffer the devastating heartbreak of losing a child. Many of these deaths can be prevented….

Read more

Conversations Can Stop Sleep-Related Infant Deaths

There are a lot of frightening statistics surrounding infant deaths: more than 3,000 babies die suddenly and unexpectedly every year; black babies are dying at twice the rate of white babies; and sleep-related deaths have stopped declining. As frightening as these numbers are, they’re also numbers that can be changed. That’s why, in this article,…

Read more

Better Sleep for Breastfeeding Mothers, Safer Sleep for Babies

When someone breastfeeds, they release oxytocin, a hormone that soothes anxieties and helps induce a unique emotional connection to their newborn baby. Oxytocin, also known as “the love hormone,” packs a powerful punch that, while supporting healthy breastfeeding, has one potentially dangerous side-effect: it can make people tired.   “New mothers are sleep-deprived and understandably stressed,” says…

Read more

NICHQ News

Stay in the Loop

Get information on observances like Breastfeeding Awareness Month and other NICHQ news delivered directly to your inbox.