A Hospital-Based Initiative for Infant Safe Sleep Practice.

Objectives: To assess whether exposure to an infant safe sleep initiative was associated with maternal report of infant safe sleep practice at home and to identify other predictive factors.

Methods: After linking Pennsylvania data on infant safe sleep initiative implementation at 27 hospitals to birth certificate and Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) data from 2017 to 2021, we generated descriptive statistics to compare infant safe sleep practice and other characteristics between respondents exposed to the initiative and all other PRAMS respondents with a hospital birth. Using multivariable logistic regression, we modeled the association between exposure to the initiative and maternal self-report of placing their infant to sleep on their back, on a separate surface, without soft objects, or room sharing without bed sharing.

Results: PRAMS respondents who gave birth in a hospital that had implemented the infant safe sleep initiative were more likely to report placing their infant on their back to sleep, on a separate sleep surface, or without soft objects compared with those who were not exposed to the initiative after adjusting for maternal characteristics and birth parameters. No significant effect was observed on room sharing without bed sharing. When the overall number of reported infant safe sleep practices reported by respondents was considered as an outcome, the association with exposure to the safe sleep initiative persisted.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates the association between exposure to a hospital-based infant safe sleep initiative and subsequent safe sleep practice at home. Additional study on the equity of such initiatives may be warranted.