A report from the Gainesville Times details the Safe to Sleep campaign in Georgia that aims to reduce the number of sleep-related infant fatalities.

Sleep-related deaths are the third biggest cause of infant mortality in Georgia behind complications from birth defects and premature birth. Multiple state agencies have united to form the Georgia Safe to Sleep Campaign in an effort to decrease the number of children who die in their sleep annually.

There are specific steps to preventing sleep-related infant deaths, according to Nancy Nydam, director of communications for the Georgia Department of Public Health, which she calls “the ABCs of safe sleep.”

“The ‘A’ is a reminder babies should sleep ‘alone’ in their own sleep area or on their own sleep surface,” Nydam said. “The ‘B’ is they should be on their ‘back,’ and that’s all the time. For every sleep including naps, at night time, always put them on their backs.

“Finally, ‘C’ is for ‘crib,’ and that crib should have a tight-fitting mattress with a tight-fitting sheet on that mattress and nothing in the crib with the child that could pose a strangulation or suffocation hazard.”

View the full story at www.gainesvilletimes.com