Newburyport: Hospital program targets safe sleep for babies
By Angeljean Chiaramida, Staff writer
February 21, 2008

NEWBURYPORT — Dr. Donna Brezinski had seen the tragedy too often in her 14-year career as a pediatrician and newborn specialist. But, after two babies died in the emergency room at Anna Jaques from unsafe-sleep related causes within a month of each other this winter, she knew she had to act.

"I was the physician called when the infant was brought into the emergency room in December," Brezinski said yesterday. "That second child's death will live with me forever. That was an unspeakable tragedy. There were a lot of grieving people here that day."

Brezinski, director of newborn medicine for Anna Jaques, acted immediately. She contacted Anna Jaques' Public Relations Director, Deborah Chiaravalloti, enlisting her help in launching a campaign to educate parents, pediatricians, child care providers and the public on safe ways for babies to sleep.

The campaign will reach out to parents through a three-pronged approach, Brezinski said. It will encompass hospital medical staff, area pediatricians and the public through in-hospital education, letters, fliers, buttons and marketing ads.

"If you have a baby in this hospital, you're going to know how to put your baby to sleep safely," Brezinski said.

Trained at Yale New Haven Hospital, Brezinski knew the danger and had seen infants and babies die because of unsafe sleep environments too many times. Each time was a heartbreak and a devastation to the family involved, and many times the deaths were preventable.

Such deaths can come from innocent misconceptions about how best to put babies to sleep. As elementary as it seems, Brezinski said, many parents — especially new parents — don't know the right way to put their babies down for naps or for the night. They don't know the possible hazards that can harm a sleeping child.

On record in Essex County are deaths that occurred when babies slept on their stomachs instead of their backs, while in their baby swings, on couches, while breast-feeding, on a parent's shoulder, on soft mattresses or pillows surrounded by loose bedding, on waterbeds, or while sleeping in the same bed with their parents or other caregivers.

To prevent other needless deaths, Brezinski first took aside every nurse in the hospital's birth center for a refresher course on safe sleeping techniques.

"Nurses play an important role with parents in the birth center," Brezinski said. "Research shows that the things parents remember after they go home from the hospital is what the nurses tell them."

In addition, Brezinski had buttons made that say, "Ask me about SAFE SLEEP!" that staff wear at the birth center. Again, Brezinski did her research, which indicates people remember better what is said if they initiate the conversation by asking questions.

With the buttons and training planned for medical staff at the hospital birth center, pediatric ward and emergency room, the next phase will be to get to local pediatricians onboard the Safe Sleep express.

"First, we're going to teach the nurses, who will teach the parents," Brezinski said. "We're going to plant the seed, but the peak period of danger is when (parents) leave (the hospital). It's in the first two to four months of a baby's life. That's when parents are taking their babies to their pediatricians."

Going out soon are letters to pediatricians. Cover letters from Brezinski relating the recent tragedies will go out, along with Brezinski's easy-to-remember five Safe Sleep points, which use the word "sleep" as the reminder of proper procedures.

The flier reads:

SAFE SLEEP FOR YOUR BABY

The points hit all the biggest baby sleep hazards, Brezinski said, including always putting babies to sleep on their backs, and putting them down by themselves in cribs.

Recommending babies not sleep with parents, is controversial, she said, because of the social movement that encourages mothers co-sleep or bed-share with their babies, which has been shown to be beneficial in certain cases. But because of the number of baby deaths Brezinski has seen due to co-sleeping, she doesn't advise it. Instead, she discusses advice given by health officials in Europe."The (United Kingdom) goes further out on a limb than we do here in the United States," Brezinski said. "They come right out and say the safest place for a baby to sleep is in its crib in the parents' room for the first six months."

The second E in Brezinski's SLEEP points — Educate you baby sitter — is very important, Brezinski said. She urges parents to become assertive and teach safe sleep techniques to anyone who cares for their babies, including baby sitters, day care workers, and relatives like brothers and sisters, aunts, grandparents, everybody.

Never assume people know what a safe sleep environment is for children, she tells parents. Tell them. It's too risky not to.

"Twenty-five percent of all baby deaths occur when babies aren't with their parents," Brezinski said.

Brezinski wanted a campaign with punch, and Chiaravalloti thinks she's got it. The hospital is buying a series of ads related to the five safe sleep points that will appear in local publications. The campaign is not a temporary promotion, Chiaravalloti said.

"We've just started," Chiaravalloti said. "We're going to grow this."

For more information on the SAFE SLEEP initiative, call the Neonatal Care Center at Anna Jaques Hospital at 978-463-1174.