135 - Infant Safe Sleep Knowledge and Practices of Pediatric Emergency Department Families

Friday, April 28, 2023

5:15 PM – 7:15 PM ET

Poster Number: 135
Publication Number: 135.121

Julianne M. Lapsa, Inova Children's Hospital, Arlington, VA, United States; Leticia M. Ryan, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; Brian H. Min, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Salisbury, MD, United States; Hannah Hardeo, Johns Hopkins Children's Center, Baltimore, MD, United States; Mary Beth Howard, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States

Presenting Author(s)

Julianne M. Lapsa, MD

Attending Physician
Inova Children's Hospital
Johns Hopkins University
Arlington, Virginia, United States

Background:

The city of Baltimore, MD has a high rate of infant sleep-related deaths that exceeds both that of the rest of the state, and the national rate. Past research suggests that health messaging is an effective method to disseminate safe sleep education. The Pediatric Emergency Department (PED) represents a potentially novel and effective location to deploy safe sleep educational interventions for at-risk families.

Objective:

Determine the state of infant safe sleep knowledge, beliefs, and practices in a population of PED parents in Baltimore, MD, and to inform the development of co-sleeping prevention strategies.

Design/Methods:

A convenience sample of families with infants less than 12 months of age presenting to a PED in Baltimore, MD between 5/2021 and 6/2022 were asked to complete a survey regarding safe sleep knowledge, beliefs, and practices. Families who endorsed co-sleeping were given educational materials (hand-out or watched a video previously produced by the Department of Health). Descriptive statistics summarized the demographic and clinical characteristics of the cohort. Chi-Square tests were used to compare the co-sleeping to the non-co-sleeping cohort.

Results:

During the study period, 27 families were enrolled. The mean infant age was 5 months old. All patients had an established pediatrician and 8 (29.6%) infants had a prior NICU admission at birth. Overall, 13 reported co-sleeping (48.1%), including 5 (18.5%) who co-slept more than 50% of the time. The median age of the co-sleeping cohort was slightly older at 6 months old compared to the non-co-sleeping cohort of 4 months old (p=0.52). Reasons for co-sleeping included: Belief that baby sleeps better (8/13, 61.5%), Improved sense of security from baby being physically closer (1/13, 7.7%), Belief that it is more dangerous for the baby to sleep alone (1/13, 7.7%), and it is more convenient to co-sleep (1/13, 7.7%).

Conclusion(s):

In this sample of PED families with infants, we found that while almost all owned cribs, nearly half reported co-sleeping, supporting the use of the PED setting for safe sleep interventions. Opportunities for prevention include education that emphasizes how infants sleep well in a crib, as this was the most common reason for co-sleeping, and also that discourages soft items in the sleep space. More data are needed to determine the receptivity, best messaging, and effectiveness of sleep counseling in the PED.