Jacobson says she's all too familiar w/what can happen when #parents don't get safe sleep info.…She's heard it in conversations at First Candle's bereavement support services.

"I can't tell you how many times…we have parents in the group saying, 'Nobody told me' or 'I didn't know. I didn't know I couldn't have a blanket in the crib. I didn't know about anything.'"

She worries…it's going to be…much harder to get info out to help parents keep their #babies safe.

Christina Stile is the former deputy director for the #NICHD communications office that has been cut. She says the office used to distribute millions of #SafeToSleep publications each year.

"It's possible that someone at #NIH could take this over," she says. But with many of the communications offices at NIH's various institutes reportedly affected by widespread job cuts, "I don't know who would do it."

…Alison Jacobson is w/First Candle, a nonprofit that participated in #SafeToSleep since it began. She says the group will continue its efforts to #educate #parents on safe sleep recommendations, but it doesn't have anywhere near the funding needed to replace the resources that #NIH provided.

"State agencies, departments of #health, #hospitals would reach out…& ask for all of these free resources to be sent to them, which they were able to do. We don't have the ability to do that."

All of this material was produced & distributed by the office of communications at the #EuniceKennedyShriver National Institute of #Child #Health & Human Development. #Shriver was the aunt of current *Health* Secy #RFKJr. …That entire department was terminated on April 1. Dr. Moon's contact at the office emailed her to share the news.

"They sent an email saying 'just wanted to let you know that since the office has been terminated, so has #SafeToSleep.' And that was it.”

Unintentional suffocation is the leading cause of injury #death among #infants who are less than 12 months old.

#SafeToSleep created the #PublicHealth messaging for this information & distributed it on social media, as well as in pamphlets targeted to specific groups, such as #grandparents, & translated it into different languages. It also provided the materials to #hospitals & #doctor's offices to be handed out to #patients.

But now, #Trump has shut down the office responsible for leading that campaign, now known as #SafeToSleep.

Safe sleep recs for #babies include laying them on their back instead of their stomach on a firm mattress in their own space, like a crib or bassinet. Avoid sleeping w/an #infant on a couch or armchair or in a swing or car seat unless in a vehicle. Keep loose blankets, pillows, crib bumpers & other soft items out of their sleep area to avoid the risk of suffocation or strangulation.

The federal govt launched the campaign as "Back to Sleep" in 1994 in partnership w/private orgs. Since then, it has helped save thousands of #babies from dying in their #sleep, says Dr. Rachel Moon, a #pediatrician & researcher at UVA who helped write the American Academy of #Pediatrics' guidelines on safe #infant sleep.

"At the very beginning of Back to Sleep, the number of #deaths decreased by 50%, which is huge," Moon says.