Safe to Sleep Program Cut Amid Increase in Sleep-Related Infant Deaths

What happens when one of the most trusted public health campaigns for new parents disappears just as the need for it grows?

Recent research shows that sleep-related infant deaths increased by 12% between 2020 and 2022, and that a significant number of babies are still being placed in unsafe sleep positions. At 4 months old, 12% of babies are laid down on their sides or stomachs—positions that increase the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). By the time they reach their first birthday, that number rises to 23%.

Amid rising misinformation and increasingly fragmented parenting communities, these numbers highlight a clear need for more accessible, up-to-date guidance. But instead of strengthening those efforts, one of the most trusted national safe sleep programs—Safe to Sleep—has just lost its federal support.

Originally launched as Back to Sleep in 1994 and later renamed Safe to Sleep, the campaign has long served as a foundational resource for families, hospitals and healthcare providers. A simple "bare is best’ message to put baby to sleep on their backs, in a firm, flat space clear of blankets and other items, quickly saw a 50% reduction in sleep-related infant deaths.

However, in recent years, the steady decline in SIDS cases has plateaued, leaving many health professionals and advocates calling for renewed investment in the campaign. The hope was to refresh messaging, expand outreach and better connect with parents through modern platforms and culturally relevant education.

What happened was the opposite.

By all current accounts, this spring, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) quietly ended its funding and participation in the Safe to Sleep campaign. The news didn’t come through a government announcement, but rather via a Facebook post from The Claire Bear Foundation, a nonprofit started by Shayna Raphael, who lost her infant daughter to unsafe sleep.

“The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has completely dismantled the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Office of Commmunications. Wit this decision comes the end of NICHD’s leadership and involvement with the Safe to Sleep campaign,” Raphael wrote.

Shortly after, Christina Stile, former deputy director of the Office of Communications for NICHD, confirmed with STAT News that the communications office which had run Safe to Sleep was eliminated on April 1. Stile and her team were placed on administrative leave that same day.

In their absence, Safe to Sleep’s public health messaging, once shared through social media, printed pamphlets and materials tailored by language and culture for specific groups, will go quiet. Hospitals and doctor’s offices that previously distributed these resources may soon run out, with no federal support to restock them.

While nonprofits like First Candle and The Claire Bear Foundation plan to continue spreading Safe to Sleep messaging, the loss of government funding makes it nearly impossible to fill the gap.

“State agencies, departments of health, hospitals would reach out to them and ask for all of these free resources to be sent to them, which they were able to do,” First Candle’s CEO Alison Jacobson told NPR. “We don’t have the ability to do that.”

The NIH told NPR that “no final decision has been made regarding the future of the Safe to Sleep campaign” and that existing materials remain available online. But with the NICHD’s communications office disbanded and no clear successor identified, the program’s future remains uncertain.

“It’s possible that someone at NIH could take this over,” Stile said. “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.”

For many parents, the loss isn’t just about pamphlets or staffing—it’s about the real-world consequences that could follow. “My daughter, Claire, died due to unsafe sleep practices while in child care. Her death was preventable, as are the deaths of thousands of other infants,” shared Raphael. “Without campaigns like Safe to Sleep, which raise awareness and share life-saving information, even more parents may face the same unimaginable pain. This decision has far-reaching implications, and the cost of it could, and likely will be, absolutely devasting.”