“Baby Alive”: How Cribs for Kids keeps babies safe by helping to reduce SIDS in Philadelphia

Newborn babies live a tough life. Daily they must survive internal and external forces to grow up healthy and strong. Internally, without a fully developed immune system, they live under the constant threat of sickness and disease. Externally, they must rely wholly on their caretakers to prevent them from suffocating, choking, hurting themselves, overheating, freezing, etc. These hazards are part of the reason why a syndrome like SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) can be so elusive; babies die without warning. Be it suffocation, strangulation, overheating, or a rare disease, all that is known is that one day the baby is active, and the next day they don’t wake up. The unfortunate reality is that, because the cause is so variable, SIDS cannot be cured, but the risk can surely be reduced through education-- and that’s precisely what my clients get through Cribs for Kids. 
Our monthly workshops teach families about safe sleep and present them with safe alternatives to potentially harmful scenarios. One of the most important lessons we teach is that allowing babies to sleep on adult beds or on the couch, even for just a nap, can be dangerous. Not only do thick blankets and pillows on beds and couches present suffocation hazards, but accidents can also happen, and babies can fall off of a couch, parents can roll over them, or other children can accidentally jump on them in the bed, not knowing their little brother or sister is napping. Additionally, especially in the winter time, wrapping babies in too many layers, or allowing them to sleep through the night with a hat on, can cause them to overheat and fall into a deep sleep they cannot wake up from. These bits of information, though seemingly simple, have a huge effect on a baby’s safety, and are invaluable to the clients we serve. Therefore, through this information and the free portable cribs we provide, expectant parents in Philadelphia can walk away from Cribs for Kids with the tools they need to reduce their baby’s risk of SIDS and keep them safe throughout the night.

This blog post was written by NHC Philadelphia member Ayana Taylor.
Ayana serves as the Cribs for Kids Advocate at Maternity Care Coalition.