NICHQ Breastfeeding & Infant Safe Sleep Webinar

Continue conversations about breastfeeding and infant safe sleep promotion with a focus on community feedback that highlights racial/ethnic disparities and associated socioeconomic, cultural, and psychosocial influences.

Their stories are so powerful": Community-based approaches to infant safe sleep and breastfeeding promotion

In the U.S., significant racial/ethnic and geographic disparities exist among sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUID) and breastfeeding practices. Combining infant safe sleep (ISS) and breastfeeding promotion on the community level presents opportunities to address these racial/ethnic disparities and associated socioeconomic, cultural, and psychosocial influences.

In Spring 2021, the National Action Partnership to Promote Safe Sleep Improvement and Innovation Network (NAPPSS-IIN) hosted a series of Listening Sessions to address two research questions: (1) What are the areas that community-level organizations need support to serve their population’s needs around safe sleep and breastfeeding; (2) What tools or resources could assist them in improving their work promoting safe sleep and breastfeeding?

This webinar shareed thematic findings and implications for safe sleep and breastfeeding policies and education.

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Featured Speakers:

Angeline Bell, BS, RN, CCE, CBS, Certified Childbirth Educator and Lactation Specialist, Program Manager, Babies Born Healthy, Montgomery County, MD
Crystal Trent Paultre, MSN, RN, CBS, Community Health Nurse, Babies Born Healthy, Montgomery County, MD
Lynnette Byfield, Community Health Worker, Babies Born Healthy, Montgomery County, MD
Stacy Scott, Ph.D., MPA, VP of Health Equity and Innovation, NICHQ
Meera Menon, Ph.D., Associate Director of Rese

ABOUT NICHQ'S WEBINAR SPEAKERS

	Lynnette Byfield is one of the newest members of the Maryland County, MD., HHS Babies Born Healthy (BBH) Program team, serving as a community health worker for the program since February 2023. Prior to joining the team, she was a participant of the program, while pregnant with her youngest son. Lynnette loves empowering women to advocate for themselves and their babies and supporting them in their journey to motherhood.
	Angeline Bell, BS, RN, CCE, CBS is a dedicated registered nurse with more than 20 years of experience on the frontline of Public Health. As an RN, she works to promote health and prevent illness and disability for residents, families, and visitors in Montgomery County, MD. Angeline is a certified childbirth educator and lactation specialist and teaches childbirth classes at Holy Cross Hospital. Angeline has served the county in many capacities over the years and is the current Program Manager for the Montgomery County, MD, HHS Babies Born Healthy (BBH) Program. Here, Angeline works tirelessly with a team of committed professionals to ensure healthy pregnancy and childbirth outcomes for Black and brown families in the county.
	Crystal Trent Paultre, MSN, RN, CBS is a community health nurse who is passionate about perinatal health and addressing maternal health inequities. She has been with the Montgomery County, MD, HHS Babies Born Healthy (BBH) Program since 2019 and previously worked as an inpatient OB nurse in Washington, DC. She is a proud mother of three and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Nursing at the University of Maryland School of Nursing.
	Stacy Scott, Ph.D., MPA is a 30-year public health advocate and infant safe sleep expert with work ranging from the government agency level to ground zero, spearheading numerous community outreach programs nationwide to end health disparities and reduce the risk of sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUID). She currently serves as the Vice President, Health Equity Innovation at NICHQ and leads NICHQ’s anti-racism and social justice work. Stacy previously worked with the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and founded the Global Infant Safe Sleep (GISS) Center in 2016, an organization with a mission to support vulnerable and marginalized global communities to reduce SUID.
	Rebecca Huber, MPP is a policy researcher with experience in both qualitative and quantitative research and evaluation methods. She received her Master of Public Policy and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from the Heller School. Rebecca currently serves as a Senior Analyst at NICHQ and previously worked a Research Associate for the Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, working on quantitative measurement indicator projects relating to family and medical leave and childcare. Rebecca is interested in systems-level two-generation approaches to social determinants of health, with a particular focus on racial/ethnic equity and community-based research methods.
	[Moderator] Meera Menon, Ph.D. is a seasoned social science researcher with extensive experience in the evaluation of perinatal and early childhood programs, including home visiting and community-based initiatives. She currently serves as Associate Director of Research and Evaluation at the National Institute for Children’s Health Quality (NICHQ) where she leads the evaluation of several large systems-change programs focused on addressing equity and improving perinatal and early childhood health outcomes. She received her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and her master’s and Doctorate degrees from Tufts University, where she focused specifically on early childhood development and program evaluation.

MORE ABOUT THE WEBINAR

Read Community-Based Approaches to Infant Safe Sleep and Breastfeeding Promotion: A Qualitative Study

This NICHQ-led study details opportunities and challenges to improve community-level promotion of infant safe sleep (ISS) and breastfeeding in communities vulnerable to infant safe sleep and breastfeeding disparities.

Through analysis of data collected for the National Action Partnership to Promote Safe Sleep Improvement and Innovation Network (NAPPSS-IIN), a multi-year project running from 2017- 2022, NICHQ researchers identified four themes to inform infant safe sleep and breastfeeding promotion: education and dissemination, relationship building and social support, working with clients’ personal circumstances and considerations, and tools and systems.

NICHQ authors include:

Meera Menon, PhD, Associate Director of Research and Evaluation (Lead Author)
Rebecca Huber, MPP, Senior Analyst
Dana D. West, PhD, Associate Project Director of Equity
Stacy Scott, PhD, MPA, VP, Health Equity Innovation (Executive Project Director)
Rebecca B. Russell, MSPH, VP, Applied Research and Evaluation
Scott D. Berns, MD, MPH, FAAP, President and CEO (Principal Investigator)

Connecting Breastfeeding Safety & Infant Safe Sleep

At NICHQ, we are committed to making breastfeeding and infant safe sleep the national norm. Breastfeeding or chestfeeding brings a variety of health benefits for babies. Mothers and birthing people with young babies need support to continue breastfeeding while ensuring infants sleep safely.

Explore our resources to promote and encourage healthy sleep habits:

Dispell common myths and facts about s afe infant sleep and breastfeeding
Educate childcare providers and caregivers with resources about safe sleep practices
How sleep savvy are you? Take our safe sleep quiz to find out. Now on Instagram!
Implement these tactics and examples to support safe sleep conversations

SAFE SLEEP 101