ST. PAUL, Min. – It’s Infant Safe Sleep Week in Minnesota, and a new state law provides free cribs to residents.
The Minnesota Department of Health says the Healthy Beginnings, Healthy Families Act aims to help prevent infant deaths, with $5.75 million in grants earmarked for community health boards and public health organizations that promote safe sleep.
One of those organizations is Cradle of Hope, which offers free portable cribs to residents who are pregnant or have a baby 12 months or younger. Applicants must first review the “ABCs of Safe Sleep” with staff before receiving the cribs.
The ABCs, created by the American Academy of Pediatrics, are:
- ALONE: “Babies should always sleep or nap alone – and not share beds or cribs with others.”
- bACK: “Always place a baby on his back to sleep or take a nap.”
- cRIB: “Infants should always sleep or nap in their own safety-approved crib, play area, crib or portable crib without blankets or pillows. To stay warm during Minnesota winters, parents are urged to keep infants in pajamas or other clothing dress appropriately for the temperature.”
The Department of Health says there are about 50 sudden, unexpected infant deaths in Minnesota each year.
“The tragedies of these unexpected deaths also highlight the need to provide all Minnesotans with the financial and housing options needed to provide safe places for babies to sleep,” said MDH Assistant Commissioner Maria Sarabia.
Racial inequality in the state has led to a disproportionately high rate of sleep-related infant deaths in Minnesota’s Black and Indigenous communities, with Native Americans experiencing seven times the infant mortality rate of white residents from 2017 to 2021, the Department of Health reports.
Both the I-35W and Lowry Avenue bridges in Minneapolis will be lit blue, pink and white on separate evenings for Infant Safe Sleep Week: I-35W on Wednesday and Lowry on Thursday.
