NICHD Safe to Sleep Campaign

NICHD Safe to Sleep Campaign

Safe to Sleep Public Education Campaign
The Safe to Sleep campaign—formerly known as the Back to Sleep campaign—aims to educate parents, caregivers, and health care providers about ways to reduce the risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and other sleep-related causes of infant death.
Safe to Sleep is an expansion of the original Back to Sleep campaign, which started in 1994. Back to Sleep was named for its recommendation to place healthy babies on their backs to sleep, the most effective action that parents and caregivers can take to reduce the risk of SIDS. Since that campaign started, the percentage of infants placed on their backs to sleep has increased dramatically, and the overall SIDS rates have declined by more than 50 percent (PDF - 49 KB).
The expanded Safe to Sleep campaign builds on the success and reach of the Back to Sleep campaign. In addition to strategies for reducing the risk of SIDS, Safe to Sleep also describes actions that parents and caregivers can take to reduce the risk of other sleep-related causes of infant death, such as suffocation.
Safe to Sleep campaign collaborators include the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD); the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA); the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Division of Reproductive Health; the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP); the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG); First Candle; and the Association of SIDS and Infant Mortality Programs (ASIP).
The safe sleep strategies outlined in Safe to Sleep materials and publications are based on recommendations defined by the AAP Task Force on SIDS. The Task Force released expanded guidelines in October 2011. Please visit Safe Sleep for All Babies to learn more about these recommendations.
Based on the AAP Task Force recommendations, parents and caregivers can make changes to their babies’ sleep environment to make it safer and to reduce the risk for SIDS and other sleep-related causes of infant death. The photo on the right shows a safe infant sleep environment.
For Pharmacists! The NICHD offers the SIDS Risk Reduction: Continuing Education (CE) Activity for Pharmacists for CE credit hours or CE units.
The CE Program on SIDS Risk Reduction: Curriculum for Nurses is also available, as well as dissemination materials for nursing CE partners.

For More Information

• Safe Sleep for Your Baby: Reduce the Risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and Other Sleep-Related Causes of Infant Death (General Outreach Brochure)
  
• Safe Sleep for Your Baby: Reduce the Risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and Other Sleep-Related Causes of infant Death (African American Outreach)
  
• Safe Sleep for Your Baby: Reduce the Risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and Other Sleep-Related Causes of Infant Death (American Indian/Alaska Native Outreach)
  
• Ponga a su bebé a dormir sin peligro: Reduzca el riesgo del síndrome de muerte súbita del bebé y de otras causas de muerte relacionadas con el sueño
  
• What does a safe sleep environment look like? Reduce the risk of SIDS and Other Sleep-Related Causes of Infant Death
  
• ¿Cuál es la apariencia de un ambiente seguro para dormir? Reduzca el riesgo del síndrome de muerte súbita del bebé y de otras causas de muerte relacionadas con el sueño
  
• Infant Sleep Position and SIDS: Questions and Answers for Health Care Providers
  
• Online Continuing Education Modules:
  • CE Program on SIDS Risk Reduction: Curriculum for Nurses (dissemination materials for nursing CE partners)
    
  • SIDS Risk Reduction: CE Activity for Pharmacists
  
  
• NICHD Health & Human Development Topic: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
  
• NICHD Health & Human Development Topic: Tummy Time
  
• NICHD News Releases on SIDS and Infant Mortality
  
• African American Faith-Based Bereavement Initiative (AAFBBI): Development of this online module, available through the National Center for Cultural Competency at Georgetown University, was co-funded by the NICHD.

If you have questions about the Safe to Sleep campaign or its materials, please contact the NICHD Information Resource Center at NICHDInformationResourceCenter@mail.nih.gov. To order materials by phone, please call 1-800-505-CRIB (2742), (TTY: 1-888-320-6942).