BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. — A project aimed at teaching safe sleeping practices to parents and loved ones of newborn babies is expanding in West Virginia.
In August, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin declared September to be “Infant Safe Sleep Month” and First Lady Joanne Jaeger Tomblin traveled the state, promoting the “Say YES to Safe Sleep for Babies” campaign and the 12 hospitals participating at the time.
Since then, five new hospitals have joined the project: Berkeley Medical Center in Martinsburg, Camden Clark Hospital in Parkerburg, CAMC Women and Children’s Hospital in Charleston, Jefferson Medical Center in Ranson and Summersville Regional Medical Center in Summersville.
“We are now reaching 66 percent of the birthing population in West Virginia,” Tomblin said. “Last year with the 12, it was about 38 percent.”
The program distributes information and tips on ways to keep babies from unsafe sleeping habits, which researcher believe is one of the causes of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
Tomblin said it was especially important for this initiative to spread, given that 42 infant deaths occurred during 2013 in the state due to unsafe sleeping practices.
“West Virginia has a high mortality rate of infants from a month to 12 months old and it equates to about one baby from unsafe sleep every 10 days.”
The First Lady was on hand Thursday at United Hospital Center to celebrate the expansion and to participate in the safe sleep training forum.
UHC was one of the first hospitals in the state to join the program, led by Lee Ann Romeo, the Maternity Unit’s Patient Education Coordinator.
“I’m really fortunate that we could provide a forum and a place for people to come and it’s always good to network with other hospitals and find out what challenges they have,” she said.
The success of the program, Tomblin said, has been through the work of staff learning to teach safe sleeping habits and with the materials provided to them by the campaign organizers.
MORE: Information on safe sleeping conditions.
“Our Babies: Safe and Sound provides free materials that we can pass out to parents. DVDs, pamphlets and we expect the staff to explain to partners what a safe sleeping environment looks like for when they go home.”
Parents of newborns are instructed to place the baby on its back in its own crib with only a light blanket and with the crib clear of toys, bumper pads or pillows.
While the program is expanding and the number of preventable infant deaths is starting to decline in both the Mountain State and nationwide, the ultimate goal is to eliminate preventable death due to unsafe sleeping conditions.
“More and more people are learning and understanding about it,” Tomblin said. “It takes a lot of awareness, it takes a lot of education. When I was a parent, my mother and grandmother told me how to do things the way they always did them and it wasn’t the right way. I think that goes on still today.”