by Mitti Hicks
May 7, 2025
Ending the life-saving program comes as sleep-related deaths increased by 12% between 2020 and 2020. Researchers believe infant deaths could be on the rise again because of the challenges from the pandemic, including access to information on safe sleep.
For 30 years, the Safe to Sleep campaign has prevented babies from dying in their sleep. The Trump administration plans to cut the life-saving program.
Established in 1994, the campaign, initially called Back to Sleep, focused on bringing awareness to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). SIDS is a type of infant death where the cause is undetermined. Increased awareness and access to education reportedly helped to slash infant deaths to 2,226 SID cases in 2009 from 4,037 in 1994, Stat News reports.
The nutrient expanded the campaign in 2012 to Safe to Sleep due to an increase in non-SIDS accidental suffocation, strangulation, entrapment, and other unexpected infant deaths, known as SUID.
“The elimination of this department is absolutely devastating as the rates of sudden unexpected infant death have begun to climb once again,” Alison Jacobson, CEO of First Candle, a nonprofit organization that worked with the federal government on Safe to Sleep, told Stat News.
Safe To Sleep Campaign Saved Thousands of Babies’ Lives
Ending the life-saving program comes as sleep-related deaths increased by 12% between 2020 and 2022. Researchers believe infant deaths could be on the rise again because of the challenges from the pandemic, including access to information on safe sleep, such as:
Lying babies down on their backs instead of their stomachs in their own space, such as a crib or bassinet.
Avoid sleeping with an infant on a couch, armchair, swing, or car seat except when in a vehicle.
Keep loose blankets, pillows, crib bumpers, and other soft items out of their sleep area to avoid suffocation or strangulation.
All this information was created by public health messaging and information on pamphlets and social media over the years.
According to the National Institutes of Health, unintentional suffocation is the leading cause of injury death among infants who are less than 12 months old.
Jacobson says her group will continue to educate parents on safe sleep recommendations, but it lacks adequate funding to replace the resources that the NIH provided.
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