Safe sleep education with child care providers in an urban environment

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is a tragic and unpredictable event that occurs to infants between one month and twelve months of age and is the leading cause of death in this age group. A number of modifiable risk factors were identified and an aggressive campaign by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) beginning in 1992 has resulted in a 50 percent reduction in SIDS deaths in the United States. However, SIDS events occurring in childcare have not decreased over this same time period and account for 20 per cent of the overall SIDS deaths. The deaths are disproportionately higher when the childcare setting is in a family home and not in a child care center. Data shows that SIDS occurs twice as often in African American babies and Healthy People 2020 aims to eliminate health care disparities. Pediatric public health nurses in the role of child care health consultants are in the position to provide face to face education to childcare providers on Safe Sleep. Face to face education is known to be much more highly effective than reading materials. A discussion of the implementation of this initiative to child care providers in an urban largely African American community will be presented.