EmailHospital Circular 33/2009
Date Issued: 25 January 2010
Distribution: Public Hospitals, Public Health Services, Private Hospitals
Subject: Victorian Infant Safe Sleeping Policy for Health Services
Purpose: To provide hospitals and health services with information regarding infant safe sleeping practices
The Office of the Child Safety Commissioner together with the Department of Health and SIDS and Kids Victoria, have been working to develop The Victorian Infant Safe Sleeping Policy for Health Services.
Sudden Unexplained Deaths in Infancy (SUDI) can be due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) or fatal sleep accidents. SIDS is a leading cause of preventable death in the first year of an infant’s life.
The role played by health services is critically important in the early days of a child’s life, where parent’s and carers learn the skills needed to provide a secure, nurturing and safe environment for their child. The Victorian Infant Safe Sleeping Policy is therefore an important step in assisting health services to deliver a key infant safety message incorporating the best available evidence and research on safe sleeping practices.
Objective:
That health services adopt and promote infant safe sleeping practices.
Aims:
To this end all health services should:
- educate health service staff to understand, model and promote safe sleeping practices and principles.
- provide evidence based information and education regarding safe sleeping practices that is in an appropriate language and format for parents and carers.
- promote safe sleeping practices in a way that supports the cultural, emotional and physical needs of the infants, their parents and carers.
This is just a short excerpt, the complete circular can be downloaded below.
Circular 33/2009 - Information regarding infant safe sleeping practices (pdf, 37kb)
