Safe Infant Sleep

The Georgia Department of Public Health’s Safe Infant Sleep Program coordinates statewide public health interventions intended to protect infants from Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID) and other sleep-related causes of infant death.

Each year in the United States, more than 3,500 infants, without a prior known illness or injury, die suddenly and unexpectedly. As of 2021, Georgia averaged three infant deaths per week due to sleep-related causes, which are contributing factors to the state’s current infant mortality rate.

Georgia Safe to Sleep Campaign

In 2016, public health, health care and community leaders came together to introduce the Georgia Safe to Sleep Campaign. In Collaboration with partners, the campaign provides tools and resources that strengthen policy, provides consistent education, and changes infant sleep environments to:

  • Prevent infant sleep-related deaths in Georgia,
  • Empower professionals to educate parents,
  • Empower families to make informed decisions about infant sleep,
  • Increase access to resources that support behaviors which protect infants from sleep-related deaths,
  • Promote ABCs of Safe Infant Sleep
    • Alone - In their own sleep space, separate but close to you
    • Back - On their back, every sleep, every nap, every time
    • Crib - In a crib or bassinet with a firm, flat surface and no extra items such as pillows, blankets or toys.

Through partnership and collaboration, this campaign targets diverse groups in Georgia that contribute to an infant’s safety, health and well-being including: parents, hospitals and health providers, statewide public health and safety organizations, families, caregivers, child care professionals and many others.

Resources:

Georgia Safe to Sleep Campaign Materials

American Academy of Pediatrics, SIDS and Other Sleep-Related Infant Deaths: Updated 2016 Recommendations for a Safe Infant Sleeping Environment   

Tummy Time

For Grief Support: First Candle

The Georgia Tobacco Quit Line (GTQL) is a FREE evidence-based public health service available to help Georgians quit smoking, vaping and stop using all forms of tobacco products.

 

 

For questions or training needs, contact:

Terri Miller, MPH, CHES
Safe Infant Sleep Program Manager
[email protected] 

 

Publications:

Walcott, R., Salm Ward, T., Ingels, J., Llewellyn, N., Miller, T., Corso, P. (2017). A Statewide Hospital-Based Safe Infant Sleep Initiative: Measurement of Parental Knowledge and Behavior. Journal of Community Health, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-017-0449-x.

Miller, T., Salm Ward, T., McClellan, M., Dawson, L. (2018). Implementing a Statewide Safe to Sleep Hospital Initiative: Lessons Learned, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-018-0483-3.

Salm Ward, T., Miller, T., McClellan, M., Brown, S. (2018). Evaluation of a Crib Distribution and Safe Sleep Educational Program to Reduce Risk of Sleep-Related Infant Death. Journal of Community Health, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-018-0493-1.

Leong, T., Billaud, M., Agarwal, M., Miller, T., McFadden, T., Johnson, J., Lazarus, SG. (2019). As Easy as ABC: Evaluation of Safe Sleep Initiative on Safe Sleep Compliance in a Freestanding Pediatric Hospital. Injury Epidemiology.  https://injepijournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40621-019-0205-z.

Leong, T., Roome, K., Miller, T., Gorbatkin, O., Singleton, L., Agarwal, M., & Lazarus, S. G. (2020). Expansion of a multi-pronged safe sleep quality improvement initiative to three children's hospital campuses. Injury epidemiology, 7(Suppl 1), 32. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40621-020-00256-z 

Salm Ward TC, Miller TJ, Naim I. Evaluation of a Multisite Safe Infant Sleep Education and Crib Distribution Program. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021;18(13):6956. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/13/6956 

Lazarus, SG., Kendi, S., Miller, T., McFadden, T., Hudson, PJ., Incident and Racial Discrepancies in News Media Reporting of Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID) Pediatrics, 149 (1 Meeting Abstracts February 2022), 127-127. https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article-abstract/149/1+Meeting+Abstracts+February+2022/127/185788/Incident-and-Racial-Discrepancies-in-News-Media/

 

The Georgia Safe to Sleep effort is adapted from the national Safe to Sleep® campaign, led by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. 

 

Page last updated 12/15/2022