Yale New Haven Health earns national recognition for promoting safe sleep practices

NEW HAVEN, CT (September 11, 2024) – Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS) recently announced that the National Safe Sleep Hospital Certification Program recognized the health system for educating parents about safe sleep practices for newborns. 

Over 3,500 babies in the U.S. die each year from sleep-related deaths. The National Safe Sleep Hospital Certification Program was created by Cribs for Kids, a national infant safe sleep organization dedicated to preventing infant sleep-related injuries and deaths due to sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) and accidental suffocation. Yale New Haven Health was awarded a bronze-level, system-wide designation that lasts five years. 

“Yale New Haven Health is proud to champion safe sleep practices at all of our facilities,” said Clifford Bogue, MD, chief of Pediatrics, YNHHS. “Every parent and caregiver of infants should learn about safe sleep to make sure they are providing the best possible environment for a child to live and grow. Thank you to Cribs for Kids for the extraordinary work you do and for recognizing our sites’ commitment to infant safety.”

A safe sleep environment for an infant includes the following:

• Use a firm sleep surface covered by a fitted sheet; a crib, bassinet, portable crib, or play yard that meets the safety standards of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is recommended.
• Your baby should not sleep in an adult bed, couch or chair – not alone, with you nor with anyone else.
• Sitting devices like bouncy seats, swings, infant carriers or strollers should not be used for routine sleep.
• Keep soft objects such as pillows, blankets, toys and bumpers out of your baby’s sleep area.
• Always place a baby on his or her back to sleep for naps and at night to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.
• Keep your baby’s sleep area in the same room where you sleep. Room sharing, not bed sharing is advised for the first year. Always place the baby in a safety-approved crib, bassinet or portablecrib for sleep.\
• Do not use wedges and positioners.
• Do not smoke during pregnancy or allow smoking around your baby.
• Do not let your baby get too hot during sleep.

Cribs for Kids’ National Safe Sleep Hospital Certification program recognizes hospitals and hospital systems for their commitment to infant safe sleep to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome and unsafe sleep injuries. The program confers a bronze, silver and gold designation to hospitals that model and teach infant safe sleep according to current American Academy of Pediatrics best practices. Hospitals are evaluated based on their ability to promote safe sleep education to infant caregivers, train staff, implement quality improvement measures, distribute safe sleep spaces to families who need them and engage in community outreach about safe sleep.

Choosing a maternity center is one of the biggest decisions a person will ever make. Among the many comforting reasons to have your baby at a YNHHS hospital is knowing both the person giving birth and their baby will be cared for by leading maternity and newborn experts in a safe, family-friendly environment. 

Babies and their parents benefit from a dedicated, multidisciplinary maternity team led by world-class obstetricians, gynecologists, midwives, nurse practitioners, nurses, researchers and other experts in women's and children's health.

Yale New Haven Health (YNHHS), the largest and most comprehensive healthcare system in Connecticut, is recognized for advanced clinical care, quality, service, cost effectiveness and commitment to improving the health status of the communities it serves. YNHHS includes five hospitals – Bridgeport, Greenwich, Lawrence + Memorial, Westerly and Yale New Haven hospitals, several specialty networks and Northeast Medical Group, a non-profit medical foundation with several hundred community-based and hospital-employed physicians. YNHHS is affiliated with Yale University and Yale Medicine, the clinical practice of the Yale School of Medicine and the largest academic multi-specialty practice in New England. Yale New Haven Hospital is the primary teaching hospital of Yale School of Medicine. www.ynhhs.org