Professor Jeanine Young AM

Safe sleep messaging varies considerably in clinical practice and guidelines within and between Australian states and territories. Many families encounter difficulties in implementing safe sleep advice; these challenges negatively impact infant care practices. Risk elimination approaches which attempt to enforce idealistic expectations of where and how a baby sleeps have been demonstrated to alienate parents. Risk minimisation approaches which support ‘safer sleep’ offer flexibility and practical strategies that are more likely to engage families in risk reduction and infant health promoting behaviours. In this session, Prof Young shares safe sleep messages that parents identified as most challenging to implement and introduce the Safer Infant Sleep clinical guideline designed to address the common barriers encountered. The anatomy and physiology of infants will be discussed together with a practical tool – Through the Tubes – which can be applied to a variety of situations in which babies may be placed to sleep to promote airway protection. Understanding airway protection and breathing assists carers to create a safer environment, whether the baby is placed alone in a cot or other environment for sleep (e.g. floor bed), or if the baby shares a sleep surface with a caregiver. The Safer Sleep guideline provides families with a voice for collaborative and informed decision-making and professionals with a tiered approach to manage risk and promote safety through practical strategies that can be applied to a range of infant sleep environments.