Special Onesies to Promote Safe Sleep

BEVERLY— You may see a baby in a stop sign onesie rolling around town sometime soon.

Newborn babies at Beverly Hospital have started going home with special onesies in an effort to educate new parents on safe sleep practices. These new onesies have an important message that healthcare providers want parents to remember: put babies to sleep on their backs.

On the back of the white onesie, a message tells parents to “turn me over,” while the front says “this side up.”

“We know that putting babies to sleep on their backs is one of the most effective ways of reducing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome,” said Eric Horowitz, MD, a neonatologist at Beverly Hospital’s Special Care Nursery. “In the first days of having a new baby, parents are often sleep-deprived and may be floundering in their new role so the message may be a needed reminder."

The onesies are part of the hospital’s Safe Sleep campaign, which has been an educational priority at Beverly Hospital since it was implemented in February 2016. The onesies were purchased through a donation from a family who had a baby in the Special Care Nursery, and now every baby born at Beverly Hospital will be sent home with one.

The Safe Sleep Committee at Beverly Hospital has been actively instituting measures to help educate parents on safe sleeping practices as it works to reduce the risk of Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID). The committee has also instituted an Infant Home Sleep Habit Survey that is completed in the pediatric office by parents with infants between two weeks and six months.

Photo courtesy of Beverly Hospital