Webinar: Nurturing Families to Create Safe Environments for Infants and Young Children
Each year, about 3,400 babies die suddenly and unexpectedly in the United States. These deaths have no immediate obvious cause and often happen during sleep or in the baby’s sleep area. Certain ethnic groups remain at higher risk than others, but the overall rate of sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) has declined considerably since the 1990’s, following the American Academy of Pediatrics safe sleep recommendations and the Back to Sleep (now known as Safe to Sleep) campaign.
Home visitors have a unique opportunity to educate families about safe sleep and how to create a safe-sleeping environment.
In this webinar — hosted by LA Best Babies Network on February 15, 2023, for staff in our network of home visiting organizations and Welcome Baby hospitals — Carmen Rezak with the Perinatal Advisory Council: Leadership, Advocacy, Consultation (PAC/LAC) discusses:
- Risk factors for sleep-related deaths and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and Sudden Unexpected Infant Death Syndrome (SUIDS)
- Strategies for how to reduce the risk of sleep-related infant deaths
- How to create a safe sleep environment for infants and young children
- How to assess for safe spaces during a home visit and a virtual visit
- How to promote human milk feeding to decrease risk for SIDS
- The impact of mother’s use of substances that increase SIDS
- How to incorporate cultural awareness and sensitivity with families of diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds
About the presenter:
Carmen Rezak is a senior healthcare nurse leader with expertise in maternal-child health. Having served the greater Los Angeles area for over 30 years, she has worked as a certified Women’s Health Care Nurse Practitioner, a Perinatal Nursing Specialist, Director of Perinatal Services, and Corporate Maternal-Child Health Project Coordinator for AHMC Health Care. She has been with PAC/LAC since 2021, and is considered a pioneer in leading hospitals to promote and support breastfeeding. Specifically, she has helped four hospitals (including the first one in L.A. County) to achieve a Baby Friendly designation. Carmen is the past Board President for BreastfeedLA and is dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of women, infants and families through quality care, outreach, and advocacy to promote and support breastfeeding and best practices. Carmen received a Master of Jurisprudence in Health Law from Loyola University Chicago and a BSN/MSN in Nursing. In 2017, she co-founded the Asian, Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian Breastfeeding Task Force of LA County to improve education and support the cultural needs of breastfeeding Asian American/Pacific Islander women. Her other passion is advocating and supporting women and families experiencing perinatal mood, anxiety and depression (PMADS). She is very focused on bridging the healthcare disparity gap and helping perinatal healthcare providers learn about the impact of implicit bias, racism, and cultural humility. She is currently completing her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) in Advanced Leadership in Healthcare Specialization.
Watch the webinar recording here, and don’t miss the links to related resources below:
Resources
- This webinar’s presentation slides
- Baby’s Anatomy When on the Stomach and on the Back (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
- Butyrylcholinesterase is a potential biomarker for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (The Lancet)
- Proper Storage and Preparation of Breast Milk (CDC)
- Almacenamiento y preparación adecuados de la leche materna (CDC)
- Child injury prevention handout (Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
- Safe sleep in child-care settings handout (Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
- Safe sleep for infants: myth vs. fact (National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)
- SIDS Q&A for health care providers (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
- Bed-sharing is a risk for sudden unexpected death in infancy (Archives of Disease in Childhood, The BMJ)
