Date: Sunday, October 14, 2012

Event: Clergy promote infant safe sleep practices during Sunday services.

In 2011, the program‟s first year, more than 80 pastors participated in the Safe Sleep Sabbath, representing churches and faiths throughout the Milwaukee area.

To help prevent infant death, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the City of Milwaukee Health Department make the following recommendations:

• Share a room with your baby, not a bed.
• A crib, bassinet or Pack n Play® should not have pillows, blankets, quilts, top sheets, bumper pads or toys in it.
• Do not expose a baby to secondhand smoke, including marijuana.
• Only place a baby on his or her back to sleep.
• Never place a baby to sleep on a couch, chair, or in a bouncy seat or car seat.
• Never care for a baby if you are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, including certain prescription drugs.

Columbia St. Mary’s Foundation supports Columbia St. Mary’s efforts to reduce Milwaukee’s tragic infant mortality rate through the Healthy Birth Initiatives Program.

The Healthy Birth Initiatives Program focuses on delivering a Safe Sleep Education Campaign, distributing Pack n Play cribs to families that cannot afford beds for their infants, promoting the annual Safe Sleep Sabbath and supporting Blanket of Love, a community-based outreach program for at-risk pregnant African-American and Hispanic women.

Blanket of Love wraps expectant mothers in a protective blanket of education and support from prenatal care through early parenthood. The effort, which was started in 2005, serves about 50 women and their families yearly. All babies within the Blanket of Love Program have been born full-term and healthy, without need of intensive-care hospital services.

For more information, visit www.safesleepsabbath.org.

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