The Safe Sleep Gap

October is many things for us; it gets a little cooler outside as the seasons change, we get into the spirit of fall with cinnamon-spiced everything, and we prepare for Halloween festivities at the end of the month. In terms of public health, it’s both breast cancer and domestic violence awareness month. What most people don’t know is that it’s also SIDS or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome awareness month as well.

I volunteered to participate in the Hispanic Art Walk at the Jacksonville Landing over the weekend as I felt it would be a great opportunity to educate members of the community on safe sleep practices. I had great conversations with visitors and learned about their personal experiences with safe sleep. I met a young woman who seemed very intrigued by my colorful safe sleep pictures. She grabbed her husband and came right over to my table to find out more. As she pointed out to him the unsafe sleep environments in the pictures, she told me about her experiences as a new mother and how it was a struggle to get her husband’s mother and aunts to put the baby on its back while sleeping. “You always put the baby on their backs, never on their stomach” she told him.

By contrast, I met few older women who were also struck by my presentation, but for other reasons. They were perplexed by it because they did not understand SIDS. They had grown up in a time where putting babies to sleep on their stomach was the norm and they just couldn’t see “what the big deal” was. They even told me how they put their own kids to sleep on their stomach and “nothing happened.” This is unsafe.

Research proves that putting babies to sleep on their stomachs increases the likelihood that an infant may die from SIDS. The only safe form of sleep for an infant is to sleep alone, on their back and in their crib. I have come to realize that there is a generational divide when it comes to opinions on what is best for babies while they sleep. I understand that it’s something that I will have to address time and time again when educating the community on safe sleep practices. It won’t be easy but I’m up for the challenge.  I encourage anyone who has a parent or grandparent who watches their infant to take the time to have a conversation with them about SIDS and educate them on safe sleep.

This blog post was written by NHC in Florida member Olga Mabolia.

Olga serves at the Northeast Florida Healthy Start Coalition as an Outreach Coordinator.