Infant Mortality Reduction

OPQIC supports the Preparing for a Lifetime Initiative, which aims to improve the health and wellbeing of newborns in various ways, such as reducing infant deaths from abusive head trauma, promoting breastfeeding and safe sleep practices, decreasing preterm birth rates, and providing resources for tobacco cessation. These efforts work towards the common goal of improving the health outcomes for infants, ultimately reducing infant mortality rates.

Infant Mortality Reduction Resources

Hospital Sleep Sack Initiative

HOSPITAL SLEEP SACK INITIATIVE

The Oklahoma State Department of Health, through the Preparing for a Lifetime Initiative, has agreed to supply hospitals with sleep sacks to provide to families of newborns at discharge. Sleep sacks are a safe alternative to loose blankets. The intent of the initiative is for hospitals to give a sleep sack to families to take home. In addition to the sleep sack, hospital staff are asked to provide the families with education regarding safe infant sleep and to model those recommendations during the hospital stay. Hospitals interested in the initiative must meet the following criteria:

Have an approved hospital policy related to infant safe sleep (sample policy)
Train nursing staff in the AAP Recommendations for a Safe Infant Sleeping Environment, (online nurse curriculum can be found here)
Provide education to families of infants on those AAP recommendations (materials can be found here)
Obtain Safe Sleep Hospital Certification through Cribs for Kids, and
Audit (at least twice a year) both the infant sleep environment and the safe sleep education provided to parents (sample audit tools: environment | education)

Hospitals who meet the criteria can complete a Hospital Agreement. For more information regarding the initiative, contact Denise Cole.

AAP Safe Sleep Guidelines

AAP Safe Sleep Recommendations

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is the leading cause of death in babies after one month of age to one year of age. One of the easiest ways to lower the risk of SIDS is to place babies on their backs to sleep, for naps and at night. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) suggests the following to reduce the risk of SIDS or sleep-related death*:

Back to sleep for every sleep
Use a firm sleep surface
Breastfeeding is recommended
Room-sharing with the infant on a separate sleep surface is recommended
Keep soft objects and loose bedding away from the infants sleep area
Consider offering a pacifier at nap time and bedtime
Avoid smoke exposure during pregnancy and after birth
Avoid alcohol and illicit drug use during pregnancy and after birth
Avoid overheating
Pregnant women should seek and obtain regular prenatal care
Infants should be immunized in accordance with AAP and CDC recommendations
Do not use home cardiorespiratory monitors as a strategy to reduce risk of SIDS
Health care providers, staff in newborn nurseries and NICUs, and child care providers should endorse and model the SIDS risk-reduction recommendations from birth.
Media and manufacturers should follow safe sleep guidelines in their massaging and advertising
Continue the “Safe to Sleep” campaign, focusing on ways to reduce the risk of all sleep-related infant deaths, including SIDS, suffocation, and other unintentional deaths. Pediatricians and other primary care providers should actively participate in this campaign.

*Source: AAP Policy Statement: Sleep-Related Infant Deaths: Updated 2022 Recommendations for Reducing Infant Deaths in the Sleep Environment

The AAP also provides guidance for safe skin-to-skin care in the neonatal period in their clinical report: Safe Sleep and Skin-to-Skin Care in the Neonatal Period for Healthy Term Newborns.

Safe Sleep Resources

Train-the-Trainer Infant Safe Sleep Environments – Who should attend? Any childcare, health care or direct service providers that educate families on safe sleep. Training is at OCCHD, 2600 NW 63rd St, OKC, OK 73111 from 8:00 am – 12:00. Training is free of charge to participants but you must register. Call 405-419-4179 to register.
OSDH Safe Sleep Website
Sample Hospital Safe Sleep Policy
Safe Sleep Education Audit Form
Hospital Safe Sleep Audit Form
OSDH Booklet: Safe Sleep for Your Baby | Spanish
Rack Card – Parenting Is Hard, You Are Not Alone | Spanish
Rack Card – Safe Sleep For Your Baby | Spanish
NICHD Safe Sleep for Your Baby Pamphlets: – White – African American – American Indian – Grandparents – Spanish
NIH Safe Sleep Nurse Education – Updated 2018 (prior to current guidelines)
Questions and Answers for Healthcare Providers
Safe Sleep Videos (YouTube Playlist )

Cribs for Kids Certified Hospitals

The following Oklahoma Hospitals have been certified as Safe Sleep Hospitals by Cribs for Kids:

Certified Safe Sleep Champion (Gold Level):

Chickasaw Nation Medical Center
Comanche County Memorial
Hillcrest Medical Center
INTEGRIS Health Baptist Medical Center
Mercy Hospital Ada
Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City
Norman Regional Health System
Oklahoma Children’s Hospital at OU Health

Certified Safe Sleep Leaders (Silver Level):

Bailey Medical Center
Choctaw Nation Medical Center
Duncan Regional Hospital
INTEGRIS Health Southwest Medical Center
Northeastern Health System
Saint Francis Hospital

Certified Safe Sleep Hospitals (Bronze Level):

Ascension St. John Medical Center
Ascension St. John Owasso
INTEGRIS Health Canadian Valley Hospital
INTEGRIS Health Edmond Hospital
INTEGRIS Health Enid Hospital
INTEGRIS Health Grove Hospital
INTEGRIS Health Miami Hospital
Jackson County Memorial Hospital
Lakeside Women’s Hospital
Mercy Hospital Ardmore
Saint Francis Hospital South
SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital – Oklahoma City
SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital – Shawnee
Stillwater Medical Center

ABUSIVE HEAD TRAUMA PREVENTION

Abusive head trauma, or injury to an infant by shaking, is one of the most preventable causes of infant death and disability. Caregiver frustration can lead to shaking a baby. This action is very often in response to sustained infant crying.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health has partnered with the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome to offer a program of prevention through education. The Period of PURPLE Crying® program is offered free of charge to all Oklahoma birthing hospitals. The program consists of hospital staff education and a DVD and booklet to be shown, discussed, and sent home with every family giving birth in that hospital.

The message of the Period of PURPLE Crying® program is:

Help parents and others understand the normalcy of periods of increased and sustained crying
Show practices that may soothe the crying infant
Provide steps to cope with the increased crying
Encourage caregiver to briefly walk away when necessary
Help them to understand the dangers of shaking

To participate in this program click here for the hospital agreement.

For more information contact Barbara Koop.

“There is a unique opportunity to prevent SBS by providing a prevention program that goes beyond simple warnings to not shake an infant and rather address the main cause of the shaking, frustration with a baby’s crying.”

Marilyn Barr, Founder, Executive Director, NCSBS

1-877-271-MILK (6455) Oklahoma Breastfeeding Hotline

The Oklahoma Breastfeeding Hotline is available free of charge to nursing mothers, their families and partners, as well as expecting parents and health care providers in need of breastfeeding support and information. For more information click on the logos below.

OKLAHOMA PRETERM BIRTH INITIATIVE

ACOG Practice Bulletin No. 234: Prediction and Prevention of Preterm Birth

March of Dimes Preterm Labor Assessment Toolkit has been discontinued.

Statement from the March of Dimes: The March of Dimes follows ACOG guidance. In the current form the PLAT is inconsistent with ACOG guidance concerning the use of fetal fibronectin. The PLAT has been removed from the MOD website and a plan is underway to conduct a review to determine if the PLAT can be revised to be consistent with ACOG Guidance or if it must be retired. As in all areas of health care we must modify our approaches as additional research and evidence become available.

Letter from Dr. Paul Jarris, CMO and SVP, March of Dimes (6/13/17)

TOBACCO CESSATION RESOURCES

5 A’s Counseling and Guidance for Clinicians
ACOG: It’s Time to Quit Smoking
Oklahoma Hospital Association: Hospitals Helping Patients Quit
Smoking Quit Line: 1-800-QUITNOW
Quit4baby
March of Dimes: Smoking Causes Serious Birth Defects

PRECONCEPTION/INTERCONCEPTION CARE

Preparing for a Lifetime Website: Before and Between Pregnancy

Before, Between and Beyond Pregnancy Toolkit – The National Preconception Curriculum and Resources Guide for Clinicians. The tool kit is designed to help primary care providers meet their patient’s needs based on the response to this “vital sign” question: “Are you hoping to become pregnant in the next year?” Her answer will allow you and your colleagues to individualize her primary care to best meet her overall and reproductive health needs.

Focus Forward Oklahoma aims to decrease unintended pregnancies in Oklahoma by increasing access to and utilization of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC).