Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Mar 7;23(1):437.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-15227-4.

Community-based approaches to infant safe sleep and breastfeeding promotion: a qualitative study

Meera Menon  1 , Rebecca Huber  2 , Dana D West  1 , Stacy Scott  1 , Rebecca B Russell  1 , Scott D Berns  1   3   4
Affiliations

Community-based approaches to infant safe sleep and breastfeeding promotion: a qualitative study

Meera Menon et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: In the U.S., sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUID) due to accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed (ASSB) are increasing, with disparities by race/ethnicity. While breastfeeding is a protective factor against infant mortality, racial/ethnic disparities are present in its uptake, and motivations to breastfeed are also often coupled with non-recommended infant sleep practices that are associated with infant sleep deaths. Combining infant safe sleep (ISS) and breastfeeding promotion on the community level presents opportunities to address racial/ethnic disparities and associated socioeconomic, cultural, and psychosocial influences.

Methods: We completed a descriptive qualitative hermeneutical phenomenology using thematic analysis of focus group data. We examined the phenomenon of community-level providers promoting ISS and breastfeeding in communities vulnerable to ISS and breastfeeding disparities. We asked eighteen informants participating in a national quality improvement collaborative about i.) areas requiring additional support to meet community needs around ISS and breastfeeding, and ii.) recommendations on tools to improve their work promoting ISS and breastfeeding.

Results: We identified four themes: i.) education and dissemination, ii.) relationship building and social support, iii.) working with clients' personal circumstances and considerations, and iv.) tools and systems.

Conclusions: Our findings support embedding risk-mitigation approaches in ISS education; relationship building between providers, clients, and peers; and the provision of ISS and breastfeeding supportive material resources with educational opportunities. These findings may be used to inform community-level provider approaches to ISS and breastfeeding promotion.

Keywords: Breastfeeding; Community health promotion; Infant safe sleep; Perinatal education.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Not applicable.

Figures

None
Fig. 1 Trends in sudden unexpected infant deaths by cause, 1990-2020. Source: Data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. National Vital Statistics System, Mortality Files, analyzed by the National Institute for Children's Health Quality
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. CDC . Data and statistics for SIDS and SUID. 2021.
    1. Matthews TJ, MacDorman MF, Thoma ME. Infant mortality statistics from the 2013 period linked birth/infant death data set. Natl Vital Stat Rep Cent Dis Control Prev Natl Cent Health Stat Natl Vital Stat Syst. 2015;64(9):1–30. - PubMed
    1. Parks SE, Erck Lambert AB, Shapiro-Mendoza CK. Racial and ethnic trends in sudden unexpected infant deaths: United States, 1995–2013. Pediatrics. 2017;139(6):1–16. doi: 10.1542/peds.2016-3844. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Drowos J, Fils A, Mejia de Grubb MC, Salemi JL, Zoorob RJ, Hennekens CH, et al. Accidental infant suffocation and strangulation in bed: disparities and opportunities. Matern Child Health J. 2019;23(12):1670–1678. doi: 10.1007/s10995-019-02786-5. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lambert ABE, Parks SE, Shapiro-Mendoza CK. National and state trends in SUID: 1990–2015. Pediatrics. 2018;141(3):1–7. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types