Author: Sarah Barber
October is Infant Safe Sleep Awareness Month and the perfect time to bring to light how important it is to provide a safe sleep space for babies ages 0-12 months.
“Guidelines for safe sleep have changed over time, and it’s important to provide continuing education to our patients and the community,” said Lori Orr, Manager of Labor and Delivery at McLaren Greater Lansing.
Babies should be placed on their back, in a crib, bassinet, or portable crib, with a firm mattress, tightly fitted sheet, and no additional items in the sleep space (such as blankets, stuffed animals, or pillows).
However, sometimes it’s difficult for new parents to provide their new babies a safe place to sleep, so to help the Kiwanis Club of Haslett-Okemos donated 12 brand-new portable cribs and sleep sacks to McLaren Greater Lansing.
“Our district governor, who is the Kiwanis leader for the state, came up with the idea of Children are Our Future and challenged each club in Michigan to come up with a project that benefits kids younger than 6,” said Robert Scott, president of the Kiwanis Club of Haslett-Okemos.
The CEO of McLaren Greater Lansing had presented to the club earlier in the year, so McLaren was top of mind when the club began to research ways to help its community.
“Kiwanis is a service organization with a focus on community and kids, and when the manager of Labor and Delivery presented the idea of providing safe sleep options, we thought it was the perfect fit,” said Scott. “The funds were raised from our Flags over Meridian Project and were used to purchase the portable cribs and sleep sacks.”
McLaren Greater Lansing is a Certified Safe Sleep Hospital. In order to earn this certification the hospital provides training for staff, education to parents, distribute wearable blankets, provide community outreach, and provide a safety-approved sleep alternative to at-risk parents in the hospital. This donation will allow McLaren to help support parents who are not prepared to provide a safe sleep environment for their newborn.
For more information on McLaren Greater Lansing’s Labor and Delivery Department, click here. If you are interested in supporting programs that help newborns and moms, you can provide a donation to the McLaren Greater Lansing Foundation.