INFANT SAFE SLEEP POLICY

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is the unexpected death of a seemingly healthy infant for whom no cause of death can be determined.  Child Care Providers can maintain safer sleep environments for infants that can lower the chance of SIDS.  The following practices and environmental modifications promote safe sleep for the infants in our care:

Promoting Safe Sleep Practices

• We review infant safe sleep practices annually with all staff.
• We always place infants on their backs to sleep until the infant reaches 1 year of age.  
• When infants can easily turn over from their backs to their stomachs, they will continue to be placed on their backs to sleep, but allowed to adopt whatever position they prefer.
• We ensure infants can be seen and heard at all times, including when they are going to sleep, are sleeping, or are in the process of waking up.
• We promote healthy development of infants who are awake by providing supervised “tummy time” to assist in the development of strong back and neck muscles.
• We post the Infant Safe Sleep Policy in our infant area for families to view.

Promoting a Safe Sleep Environment

• Infants who fall asleep in any location other than a crib (ex. laying on boppy pillow, infant carrier, stroller, etc.) will be immediately moved to a crib and placed flat on their back.
• We place infants to sleep on a firm, flat, non-inclined mattress covered by a tight fitted sheet, in a crib approved by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
• We do not place soft items of any kind on or in the crib with a sleeping infant (ex. pillows/boppy pillows, quilts/blankets, bibs/burp cloths, toys/stuffed animals, etc.).
• We do not place wedges or any other positioning devices in a crib with a sleeping infant.
• We do not practice swaddling infants in our care.
• We do not use weighted blankets, weighted sleepers, weighted swaddles, or other weighted objects with sleeping infants.
• We allow infants to use pacifiers while sleeping though pacifiers should not have anything attached to them (ex. string, cord, stuffed animal) and may not be attached to an infant’s clothing.
• We ensure that the temperature of the room is comfortable for a lightly clothed adult, check sleeping infants to ensure they are comfortably clothed to avoid overheating (signs include an infant who is warm to the touch and/or sweating). Wearable blankets can be used (if provided by the family).  Hats will not be allowed on sleeping infants.